Finance Ministry notifies to suspend sale of vehicle domain numbers

Transport Authority has been advised by the Ministry of Finance to suspend the sale of domain numbers for land transport vehicles.

Chairman of Transport Authority Abdul Rasheed Nafiz said that Finance Ministry had informed last week that they wished to check whether the collection of money from sale of domain numbers, used instead of registry numbers for land transport vehicles, was being conducted in accordance with the Public Finance Act.

The ministry had thus notified Transport Authority to suspend the sale of domain numbers until these checks are carried out.

“We have decided to discuss this matter with Finance Ministry. We started doing this following the attorney general’s advice, and have also established a regulation regarding the matter. I don’t see any serious problems associated with this issue,” he said.

He said that domain numbers had been sold on two occasions in the past.

“We should make an announcement this week regarding the third phase of sale of domain numbers. But we haven’t made any announcement due to this notification,” he said.

The authority sells domain numbers through an online auction system. The starting price of a motorcycle domain number is MVR 15,000, while the starting price of a car domain number is MVR 25,000.