By Joyce Danso, GNA
Accra, Dec. 25, GNA – Bemenco Embossment Limited and 26 others have sued the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) over the proposed digital vehicle number plate registration system.
The applicants, in a motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction, were seeking an order restraining the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), its agents and assigns from proceeding with the new registration system.
The High Court has fixed January 21, 2026, to hear the application.
The applicants were seeking a declaration that the DVLA’s refusal to allocate blank registration plates for 2026 was unlawful, unfair, and without a legal basis.
“A declaration that the defendant (DVLA)’s refusal to allocate blank registration plates for the year 2026 to the plaintiffs’ members and breaches the subsisting contract between plaintiffs and defendants for embossment of vehicle number plates,” the suit stated.
They were also seeking a declaration that the DVLA’s decision to award the contract to Dr Nyarko Esumadu Appiah of Original Embossment “is null, void and of no legal consequence.”
The plaintiffs wanted the court to compel the DVLA to engage them to emboss vehicle number plates for 2026 and beyond.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs said they had obtained approval from the DVLA to establish vehicle number plate embossment facilities in DVLA offices nationwide.
They said members were required to acquire embossment equipment that met DVLA specifications, costing between GH¢70,000 and GH¢1 million per unit, and had financed the embossment of vehicle number plates for more than 30 years.
They argued that the equipment had no alternative use and that the DVLA was aware that members had a legitimate expectation of continuing to emboss number plates.
The plaintiffs said they had “an enforceable contract” with the DVLA, which had not been revoked, but noted that although the Authority planned to roll out digitalised number plates in January 2026, they had not been engaged.
They said embossment of 2026 number plates should have started in October 2025 with the allocation of blank plates, but the DVLA had failed to do so.
The plaintiffs said the DVLA had publicly announced the rollout of digital number plates in January 2026 and that, at a meeting on October 27, 2025, they were informed that the contract had been awarded to Dr Appiah, a decision later confirmed by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
They described the decision as “unfair, unreasonable and abuse of administrative authority,” and said overlooking 46 companies and sole proprietors to award the contract to one individual was “illegal and discriminatory.”
The plaintiffs said the DVLA neither advertised tenders nor sought approval from the Public Procurement Authority, alleging violations of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).
They said although they supported the rollout of digital number plates, a six-month suspension would allow adequate planning, training and stakeholder engagement.
The plaintiffs said their members employed more than 3,000 workers whose livelihoods would be jeopardised, and that they would suffer irreparable damage and financial loss if the DVLA arbitrarily revoked their contracts.
Meanwhile, the DVLA has announced a delay in the implementation of the new vehicle number plate system, originally scheduled for January 2, 2026, due to the failure to secure amendments to the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180).
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey