Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu: RTO code list and details

A number plate here starts with DN or DD, as the two former union territories kept their own letters. It has four parts: In DD 01 AB 1234, the letters DD mean Daman and Diu, 01 shows the Daman office, AB is the series of letters and 1234 is the four-digit number. A Silvassa car shows DN 09 instead of DD 01.

As the code records the office that first registered the vehicle, it says nothing about where the owner lives now. A DN or DD code stays the same if the owner moves to another district of the union territory. It changes only when the vehicle is registered again outside the territory or its registration details are changed.

Worth knowing: DN and DD plates both belong to the same union territory now. The letters tell you which district registered the vehicle, not that it came from somewhere else.

To stop a plate being taken off and reused on another vehicle, every car and bike here must carry a High Security Registration Plate (HSRP). It is a national requirement under Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.

Two MoRTH notifications brought it in: G.S.R. 1162(E), issued on 4 December 2018, and S.O. 6052, issued on 6 December 2018. MoRTH is the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Older DN and DD vehicles without HSRP

Since 1 April 2019, the manufacturer and dealer have fitted the plate on new vehicles, so only vehicles registered before that date still need one fitted, by the dates the administration sets. You can book the installation on the HSRP booking portal listed on the website of the Transport Department, Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and see there which date covers your DN or DD vehicle.

The code list here is short, since the union territory has three districts and one office each. The letters on the plate show which district registered the vehicle.

Published lists disagree about whether a second Daman series is in use, so it is shown as pending. Confirm your own office with the Transport Department of the union territory before you visit.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were two separate union territories until 26 January 2020, when they became one. For vehicle owners, very little changed on the ground.

Plates stayed as they were

Vehicles already registered kept their DN or DD numbers, and both series remain in use. A plate is only replaced if the vehicle is registered again somewhere else.

Offices stayed where they were

Silvassa, Daman and Diu each kept their registering office, since the three districts are far apart and a single office would not be practical.

Worth knowing: Insurers treat DN and DD registrations the same way. The premium follows the car and the registered address, not which series the plate carries.

Road tax in this union territory is charged once, as a flat share of the cost that depends on the fuel rather than on a price band. The rates below are those of Schedule B of the Daman and Diu Motor Vehicles Tax (Amendment) Regulation, 2010. The merged union territory may have revised them since, so treat the amount on Vahan as the one that applies.

For example: At 4%, a ₹6 lakhs petrol car registered in Silvassa pays ₹24,000 once. A diesel car at the same price pays 6%, which comes to ₹36,000.

Since the administration can revise its rates, look at the amount Vahan shows before paying. You can pay it yourself through the vehicle tax service on Parivahan Sewa, or let the dealer include it in the on-road price.

As the fees come from Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, Silvassa, Daman and Diu all charge the same base amounts. They are paid on Vahan or at the office counter whenever a Registration Certificate (RC) is issued, renewed or changed.

Not included: The HSRP, the road tax and any service charge the administration adds are separate, as they are not part of the Rule 81 schedule. Vahan lists each amount before you pay.

As the application is made on Vahan and the dealer already holds your papers, dealers in Silvassa, Daman and Diu usually file it for a new private car. The road tax and registration fee are added to what you pay for the car, and the Registration Certificate (RC) follows after the RTO has approved it.

Some cases still need a document check, an inspection or a visit to the RTO, as the process depends on the vehicle and the transaction. So take these five steps as what usually happens, not as a promise for every car.

Important to know: Since the dealer needs nothing more than proof of a valid policy, you are free to buy the car insurance yourself before delivery and compare plans first.

Since the RC is held by the office that issued it, a used car sale is recorded at that office or on Vahan. A DD-01 car sold in Silvassa is still transferred by the Daman office.

Removing a loan (hypothecation) from the RC in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

Since the lender’s name stays on the RC until the loan is cleared, collect the lender’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Form 35 after the last instalment. Apply on Vahan, and the RTO issues an updated RC without the loan.

Good to know: Loans go on the RC through Form 34, the reverse of Form 35, when a car is financed.

As the union territory runs on the national Parivahan services, the same portals work in all three districts. The Vahan portal covers registration, the RC, tax and ownership. The Sarathi portal covers driving licences, and mParivahan with the e-challan service shows vehicle details and challans.

Not every task can be finished online, and that differs from one office and service to the next.

Duplicate RC and RC status for DN and DD cars

If the RC is lost, stolen or damaged, the remedy is a duplicate: Apply with Form 26 on Vahan and pay the fee listed in the fees table above. For the current state of a DN or DD registration, Parivahan Sewa and mParivahan both show the RC status, and you can also check your RC status on Kiwi Insurance.

Driving licence services in the three districts

Licence work runs through Sarathi here, as it does across India: The learner’s licence, the driving test, licence renewal and the International Driving Permit. Form 2 and Form 4A in the forms section below are the paper copies.

As traffic fines come from a national law, a challan here starts from the same amounts as anywhere in India. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 fixes those below, and the administration can compound some offences at its own amounts, so the challan itself shows what is due.

Since e-challans are issued against the registration number, entering a DN or DD number on echallan.parivahan.gov.in or in mParivahan shows any that are pending, and both let you pay.

Worth knowing: Of the fines above, only the one for driving uninsured can be avoided simply by holding a valid policy for the car.

Since documents and steps can differ by vehicle, state and office, confirm the current process with your RTO or on the Parivahan Sewa website. If you are leaving the union territory, the same steps apply the other way round: Your DN or DD office issues the NOC, the car is registered and taxed in the new state, and you claim the refund of unused tax here.

A Bharat series (BH) number plate is valid all over India and has no DN or DD code. As it is not tied to one state, the owner needs no No Objection Certificate (NOC) and no new registration after moving to another state. Owners who are transferred between states every few years gain the most from it.

MoRTH brought the scheme in with G.S.R. 594(E) on 26 August 2021, and it took effect on 15 September 2021. G.S.R. 879(E) of 14 December 2022 later allowed a Bharat series (BH) vehicle to change owners and an existing number to be converted. The format is YY BH #### XX, where YY is the year of first registration, the four digits are allotted at random, and XX represents the alphabetic series, which can be a single letter or two letters. It is black on a white plate, like any other private car.

Compared with the union territory: A DN or DD car pays its 4% to 6% road tax under the 2010 regulation once, at registration, while a BH car pays the rates above every 2 years.

Worth knowing: A BH owner who leaves the union territory also has no DN or DD road tax refund to claim, as the tax is paid in 2-year blocks.

Since the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 fix the forms for all of India, the offices in Silvassa, Daman and Diu use the national set. Vahan and Sarathi now take most of them online, and you can print the PDF if an office still needs the form on paper.

Since a sale changes both the RC and the policy, Form 29 and Form 30 are filed together, and the buyer then has 14 days to move the insurance.

Worth knowing: The office that handles a form is the one whose code is on the RC: Silvassa for DN-09, Daman for DD-01 and Diu for DD-02. Offices may also want address proof or a PUC certificate, so look up the document list for your service on the Parivahan Sewa website. Any form missing here is in the full form list on the Parivahan Sewa website.

Worth knowing: Since the car changes hands on one day, completing the RTO transfer and the insurer’s transfer in the same two weeks leaves no gap in cover.