Bengaluru: Even before the State introduces High Security Registration Plates (HSRP), the city seems to have turned into a hub and a prime source for fake HSRPs in south India.

Not that the Transport Department is unaware of the menace. There have been at least two circulars from the Union Ministry of Roads Transport and Highways, in 2009 and 2011, asking Transport Commissioners in each State to check the menace.

The circular clearly says that at least one city-based private firm, Utsav Safety Systems, is supplying fake HSRPs across the country.

The circulars, copies of which are available withThe Hindu , sought a crackdown on such firms due to security implications. A charge sheet filed by the Hyderabad police regarding sale of fake HSRPs in 2010 names another Bengaluru firm, Indiranagar-based N.K. Impex, as the supplier of fake HSRPs for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Sources say N.K. Impex is a distributor of Utsav Safety Systems.

However, the State Transport Department is yet to even raise a finger against the threat. Transport Commissioner Rame Gowda said that the tender process for introducing HSRPs in the State is caught in legal wrangles. “There is no question of a crackdown. There is no legal or illegal HSRP in the market as we have not authorised any firm to issue HSRPs,” he said.