Chandigarh businessman buys '0001' for Rs 15.44 lakh for his scooter

Chandigarh, April 16

A local businessman bought ‘0001’ registration number for a whopping Rs 15.44 lakh for a scooter against a reserve price of Rs 50,000 during an e-auction conducted by the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) here today.

Brij Mohan, who runs an advertisement agency, made the highest bid for CH01CJ 0001. Mohan said he liked the number so much that he bought it for Rs 15.44 lakh. Initially, he would use the number on his Activa scooter he recently bought for Rs. 80,000, and later shift it to a car, as he was planning to buy a new four-wheeler during the auspicious days of Diwali.

The ‘0001’ number of the CH01CH series had fetched Rs 24.40 lakh in the previous auction, the second highest amount ever earned for this number in the history of the RLA. The highest-ever bid for 0001 of the CH01AP series was a whopping Rs 26.05 lakh in 2012.

Meanwhile, 0002 of the CH01CJ series fetched the second highest amount of Rs 5.46 lakh.

An official said during the e-auction of vehicle registration numbers (fancy and choice) of the new series CH01-CJ and the leftover numbers of the previous series, a total of 378 registration numbers were auctioned. The e-auction of special registration numbers of the new series, CH01-CJ, along with re-auction of the leftover fancy numbers of previous series CH01CG, CH01CF, CH01CE, CH01CD, CH01CC, CH01CB, CH01CA, CH01BZ, CH01-BY, CH01-BX, CH01-BW, CH01-BV, CH01-BU, CH01-BT and CH01-BS was held today. The RLA earned a total revenue of more than Rs. 1,50,13,000 from the e-auction.

The RLA had earned a total revenue of more than Rs 2,31,15,000 from the e-auction of fancy numbers of the series, CH01-CH, along with the re-auction of the leftover numbers of the previous series. Similarly, the RLA had earned a total revenue of Rs. 1,43,84,000 from the e-auction of fancy numbers of the series, CH01-CG, along with the re-auction of the leftover numbers of the previous series.

The successful bidders will be required to get their vehicles registered as well as deposit the bidding amount within one month from the date of auction, failing which a penalty of 10 per cent as well as interest at the rate of 10 per cent on the balance amount will be charged till the date of payment.

Only owners who had purchased the vehicles on a Chandigarh address were allowed to participate in the e-auction.