High Court has ordered a stay on RTO officials asking out-of-state vehicle owners to pay lifetime tax in Karnataka
The High Court of Karnataka recently ordered issue of notice to the State government on a petition which has challenged the law of levying lifetime tax on vehicles from other States if they remain in Karnataka beyond 30 days.
The court also asked the State authorities not to precipitate the matter until further orders while adjourning further hearing till February 2. Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh passed the interim order during the hearing of a petition filed by Ananthu Karattuparambil of Thrissur, Kerala.
The petitioner has questioned Section 3 of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 2014, which made it mandatory for the owners of non-Karnataka registered vehicles to pay a lifetime tax in Karnataka if the vehicle is used continuously for more than a month in any part of the State.
“Rules brought out by the Karnataka government are nothing but harassment for people visiting the city including lakhs of techies, and such rules exist nowhere else in the country. We are Indians and the same rule has to apply across the country.
“More than the rule, RTO officials harass people and in several instances, despite submitting all required documents, owners of the cars are forced to pay the tax, which is not acceptable.”
Harassment is also noticed in Goa where RTO is detaining KA registered vehicles and demanding documents irrelevant to the requirement of Karnataka Govt. and then demand gratification to absolve of the same.