Vehicle Registration Plates of Indian Army

Introduction

We all know about the number plates which are in front and back of a vehicle. All motorized road vehicles in India are tagged with a registration or license number. The Vehicle registration plate number (commonly known as number plate) is issued by the district-level Regional Transport Office (RTO) of respective states — the main authority on road matters. The number plates are placed in the front and back of the vehicle. By law, all plates are required to be in modern Arabic numerals with Latin letters. Other guidelines include having the plate lit up at night and the restriction of the fonts that could be used. In some states such as Sikkim, cars bearing outside plates are barred from entering restricted areas.

Have you ever observed and Army vehicle number plate ?

many of you would have seen. ever wondered what they mean .

As you may have already observed that Military vehicles have a unique numbering system unlike any other. Now let us try to understand this unique numbering naming convention in detail. Most of Motor Vehicle Act does not apply to Army Vehicles and neither do CMVR do to specific modifications.

 As a matter of fact, in India, all motorized road vehicles are assigned a registration number issued by the RTO of their respective states and are registered with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. As per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, these numbers are visible on the rear and front of the vehicles’ number plates. However it's not the same case with military vehicles, they are registered under the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi and have a numbering system which appears very vague.

Format

• These number plates generally contain a green background or a black background. These are used by officers or their kin only for official purposes.

• Arrow mark - An upward pointing arrow which is also called Broad Arrow was primarily used by the British Government to indicate government property, defence property in particular. So when they ruled the Indian subcontinent they brought their practice with them and we Indians, after independence, inherited this practice of using arrow mark. The main function of the arrow is to prevent the number from being read wrongly in case the number plate (and/or the vehicle bearing it) turns upside down. The arrow mark is not just used in the number plates of Army vehicles but also to all the property of Ministry of Defence – be it a paper, a chair, a table etc.

• The first two digits signify the year in which the Military procured the vehicle.

• The next is the Base code.

• The base code is followed by the serial number/vehicle number.

• The letter ending after the serial number indicates the class of the vehicle.

• Above these number plates, the respective Staffs have stars that indicate their rank.

                    

Red Plate for army while a navy blue/sky blue plate for Air force and Navy.

• 1- Star on the Brigadier level.
• 4-stars on The Chief of Army Staff, The Chiefs of Naval and Air.
• 5-Stars on The Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Air Force.