'Transport dept flouting HC stay on life tax for non-K'taka vehicles'

Owners of non-Karnataka vehicles have accused the Transport department of violating the recent stay order by the High Court on seizing outstation vehicles over non-payment of life tax.

Ravi Sarda and N Subbu Raman whose vehicles are registered in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively, produced receipts of the challan and the life tax which they were forced to pay despite the stay order by the High Court, at a press conference in the City on Monday.

A single bench of the High Court had, in an interim order in November, directed the Transport department not to collect life tax for eight weeks. After that, another petition was filed and the matter is pending in the High Court.

It was in February last when the State government amended the law. The Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 2014, states that any vehicle plying continuously in Karnataka for more than 30 days needs to pay life tax.

The Central Motor Vehicle rules state that any motor vehicle plying continuously in another state needs to be registered in 11 months.

When contacted, Transport Commissioner Ramegowda denied that life tax was being levied on vehicles from other states. He said, “Since the matter is still in the court, the department officials have been instructed not to seek the tax.”

When asked about the specific cases, he said these people must have got the notices before the stay order and they may have paid the taxes voluntarily.