Govt charging road tax from disabled, HC told

Chandigarh, May 30

The state is charging exorbitant amount of road tax from disabled persons for the registration of auto-transmission cars in their name on the basis of repealed provisions of the British-era 1939 Motor Vehicles Act, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was told on Thursday.

Appearing before the Bench for petitioners Baljinder Kaur and Shingara Singh, advocate HC Arora submittedthat the state government exempts road tax to be paid at the time of new vehicle registration to disabled persons.

He said a vehicle under the British-era Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 could be registered as “invalid carriage’ in the name of a disabled person if its unladen weight was not more than 300 kg. He said the Motor Vehicle Taxation Rules of Punjab was to date referring to the same definition of “invalid carriage”.

He said the petitioners, both “disabled”, had to pay road tax. Aggrieved, they filed a civil writ petition seeking refund of the tax paid under compelling circumstances. Taking up the matter, a Division Bench issued notice to the state, Transport Commissioner and other respondents. — TNS