Chandigarh's vanity plate record: Man spends Rs 8.1 lakh on plate for scooter

Chandigarh’s obsession with fancy motor vehicles numbers aka vanity plates just went up another notch. Kanwaljit Walia, a bakery owner, on Saturday spent Rs 8.1 lakhs on a VIP number, CH01BC 0001, for his scooter. The scooter, a Honda Activa, itself costs Rs 50 thousand, reports NDTV. [caption id=“attachment_2242360” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The auction for the numbers was conducted by the Chandigarh’s Licensing Authority where along with CH01BC 0001, Walia also bought CH01BC 0011 (for 2.6 lakhs) and CH01BC 0026 for his son’s new bike and a SUV, respectively. “I wanted to surprise my son whose marriage anniversary was on May 11. I had also purchased another fancy number for an SUV,” Walia said in an interview with The Times of India. Authorities earned about Rs 77.71 lakh from open auction of VIP numbers over the last five months, reports TOI. But Walia, is hardly the first person to splurge on license plates in the city. In 2012, Chahel Singh spend 8 lakhs for a ‘0001’ number, whereas, Narinder Singh Shergill was the first in the city to break the Rs 10 lakh barrier to get ‘0001’ in May 2010, the Open Magazine had reported. At the same auction a religious sect picked up an ‘AK-47’ series number for 3.1 lakhs.