0005 gets highest bid of Rs 3.61 lakh

Ramkrishan Upadhyay    

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, May 20      

The much sought after number, 0001, lost its charm this time with 0005 getting higher bid in the auction for fancy numbers of new series  CH01 BM that concluded here today. A resident of Ram Darbar, Shubham, bought the 0001 number for Rs 2.2 lakh.   

Surprisingly, 0005 got the highest price. It was  bought  by the owner of a private company  for Rs 3.61 lakh. Kabir  Sachdev of Care Utilities Product has bought the number for his Mercedes car.  The company earlier bought 0004  for its  Range Rover car. 

This time all eyes  were on 0001,  which was included in the list just a day before the auction. It was surrendered  by  the UT Transport Secretary. The number was allotted to his Toyota Innova car under the  policy  which allows officers  to book two choice numbers at the  reserve price during their tenure.  Meanwhile, Shubham  said he would gift the 0001 number  to his  brother, who lived in Punjab and owned luxury cars.   

The 0001 number has received  the second lowest price in the past five years.The same number of CH-O1-BL series went for Rs 6.70 lakh. In the auction of numbers of the BK series, 0001    fetched Rs 7.01 lakh while the same number of the CH01 BJ series was sold for Rs 4. 93 lakh. It was during the  auction of  numbers of the CH01 BH series that 0001  was sold only for Rs 89,000, which was the poorest response ever.  

The  0001 number has been sold for amounts from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh in earlier open auctions. 

The successful bidders will be required to get their vehicles registered as well as to deposit the balance bid amount within one month from the date of auction. 

The Registration and Licencing Authority (RLA)  has made around Rs 70 lakh through the auction of around 350  numbers.