Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjay Y Chandrachud has a cool registration plate on his cars. It was revealed recently when the picture of his Mercedes went viral on the internet.
The picture, which was first shared by angel investor Lloyd Mathias on X, showed the Mercedes bearing a distinctive registration number-- DL1 CJI 0001.
The picture shows a black Mercedes-Benz E 350 D car. According to Cars24, the car is registered in the name of the ‘Registrar Supreme Court of India’.
Mathias wrote, "Saw Chief Justice of India, Dhananjay Chandrachud at a private function in Delhi yesterday. On my way out, I couldn’t help notice his car’s licence plate number: DL1 CJI 0001. Very cool. Wonder if the Chief Election Commissioner’s car number plate is DL1 CEC 0001?"
The tweet, since being shared on February 18, has accumulated over 7.5 lakh views. Additionally, the share has received over 7,200 likes and numerous retweets. Many even shared their thoughts in the comments section.
So, is it a special privilege granted to the Chief Justice? Did the government pull strings to secure this coveted sequence? The answer, surprisingly, lies in India’s Motor Vehicles Act.
As confirmed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, vehicles designated for constitutional functionaries, such as the Chief Justice, follow a specific format on their number plates. The first two letters denote the state (DL for Delhi), followed by a code for the designation (CJI in this case). The remaining numbers are typically assigned sequentially according to the date of registration.