Stop harassing non-Karnataka vehicle owners, RTOs told

Owners of non-Karnataka vehicles, on Friday urged the State government to provide them with the option of annual tax payment. 

Briefing reporters, the group, led by Waseem Memon, claimed PAN cards, Aadhar cards and other important documents were being seized by RTO officials to ensure compliance.“We want such harassment to stop when we show them proper documents. RTO officials do not have the right to harass residents on the pretext of claiming taxes despite having valid documents in possession,” he said.

Narrating his experience at a press conference here, software engineer Shiraz, a member of the group who recently shifted to the City for his job, said, “I purchased a car in the last week of May this year and moved to Bangalore less than a month later. I had just settled in the City when RTO officials flagged won my car and asked me to show documents to prove I had not been in the State for more than one month. I immediately gave them the toll receipts. They asked me to get other documents and approach a parked RTO vehicle.”

However, Shiraz was in for a shock when the officer did not return the documents and demanded to see the toll receipts. “I asked the person who had stopped me initially to give the officer the toll receipts I had given him, but he denied having received them. They took my documents and drove away. That’s when I saw my crumpled toll receipts under the vehicle. They tried to destroy evidence I presented, and they also have my vehicle documents now,” he said.

Another harassed owner of a non-Karnataka vehicle was dragged out of his car even after he produced all the documents, while he was travelling with his wife and a child. He claimed that he was asked to either leave his car behind or sign fake documents.The members of the group said these cases had been highlighted to all the top transport officials but no action had been taken so far.

Asked about the high-handedness of the RTO officials, Transport Commissioner Ramegowda said the staff had been told to be polite and any such incidents should be brought to his notice for suitable action.