Punjab First Ever Number Plate Auctions

In a first-of-its-kind, the UT administration’s Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA) earned a whopping Rs 10 lakh for the auction of a vehicle number CH01AC on Saturday. The proud buyer, Sector 33-C resident Narinder Singh Shergill, is an agriculturist.

Shergill bought the number, the first in its series for Rs 10 lakh against its reserved price of Rs 25,000. The number that got the second highest bid was CH01AC-0009. It went for Rs 4.70 lakh and was bought by Sector 9-D resident, Dashmeet Singh. The numbers that fetched the third, fourth and fifth highest bids were CH01AC0003, CH01AC0005 and CH01AC0011.

Excited about his latest acquisition, Shergill said: “I had a few dream numbers 0001, 0002, 0003, 0010 and 1000 and I had applied for these on May 10. I just wanted a good number for my brand new Fortuner, which I purchased on Monday. My budget was Rs 10 lakh.”

Shergill, who has studied from Punjabi University, Patiala, has farms in Kurali and Kharar. He is also into real estate. Initially, there were seven bidders for 0001, but after the bid of Rs 7.5 lakh, only two were left in the fray. Said RLA in charge Prerna Puri: “The overall collection has been very good… it’s second highest so far. Even some ordinary numbers fetched a good price.”