State govts, UTs to prepare policy for high security No. plates

New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) In a significant direction to check the increasing incidents of terrorism and other crimes in the country, the Supreme Court today directed all the state governments to prepare a policy within six months for making use of high security number plates compulsory for all the vehicles.

Todays' directions have been issued on a petition filed by Maninderjit Singh Bitta , President of Anti-Terrorist Front, who had filed a PIL, seeking directions to the state governments and the Union Territories to make use of number plates with chromiun based hologram, compulsory.

According to Mr Bitta in most of the terrorist attacks stolen vehicles with fake number plates were used, making it virtually impossible for the security agencies to nab the culprits.

Mr Bitta had contended before a bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat that the chromium based number plates could not be changed and the machine for making such number plates were very costly and could not be procured by terorist outfits or by organised criminals. He said the use of such number plates shall go to a great extent in solving such crimes against the society at large, in which the innocent citizens were the victims of mindless violence.

Duplicates of chromiun based holograms could not be prepared and therefore,l it would be much easier for the police to apprehend the culprits, once the vehicle used in the crime was recovered.

Todays' directions of the apex court are to be complied within six months by all the states and the Union Territories, by preparing