KOCHI: Taxis continue to mislead the authorities by not adhering to the specifications regarding the number plates, as directed by the Motor Vehicle Department. However, when these vehicles apply for the Certificate of Fitness (CF), they hoodwink the authorities by making some temporary arrangement that helps them use their vehicles both as taxis as well as private vehicles.A source with the Motor Vehicle Department said that one of the major reasons that lure taxis to fix fake number plates is that they can easily evade the taxes to be paid while crossing into another states.“The private vehicles do not need to pay taxes for inter-state trips. But the taxis need to take a seven days’ permit for such trips and if they need more number of days, they have to get the permit extended. Usually, the process is very expensive,” said the source.He also added that the taxi buses and tempo travellers have to pay about Rs 350 per seat and it would come around Rs 27,000 for the entire vehicle. “These can be evaded easily if they run their vehicles with a number plate with black letters on a white back ground,” added the source.The Motor Vehicle Department officials also confirmed that such cases of deception are on the rise. RTO T J Thomas said, “Such cases are increasing day-by-day and if we get any hint of the usage of fake number plates, we will take every step to prevent it. Those charged under this law will be fined `3000.”As per the rule, the number and letters on a number plate for taxis should be written in black letters on a yellow background, on all four sides of the vehicle. This can be easily tampered with. “They do it by coating a kind of grease on the required area. The letters and numbers are written over it and it can remain intact for two to three hours. This kind of deception cannot be detected easily. The yellow colour painted on the greased area can be easily removed using turpentine. One shop, that works on this, is functioning near to the Collectorate in Kakkanad,” said the sources.When asked about this, RTO said that the Motor Vehicle Department does not have provisions to take steps against such shops. "We are helpless regarding such shops. We can only conduct an inspection to know whether the vehicles are using the fake number plates or not,” he added.
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