The Karnataka High Court has recently allowed the writ petitions seeking to direct the registration of the vehicles of the Petitioners under BH-Series by virtue of the Notification dated 26.08.2021 issued by the Commissioner of Transport and Road Safety, Bangalore.
The Petitioners, after purchase of the vehicles sought for registration of their vehicles as per the BH-Series. However, they were informed by the dealer that the on-line portal is not accepting BH-Series registration for private individuals. They also submitted that, in respect of similarly placed persons, the jurisdictional authorities of the State have registered the vehicle under BH-Series.
The State of Karnataka filed the statement of objections and stated that, due to registration of vehicles under BH-Series there is a possibility of reduce in collection of State revenue and that the Department may not reach the target fixed by the State Government in collection of revenue, hence the communication/letter dated 20.12.2021 was issued to register the new non-transport vehicles of persons excluding the private sector employees under BH-Series registration in the first phase.
The State, represented by Jyoti Bhat and Goreppa S also contended that, most of the employees are working on contract basis and they are frequently changing from one Company to another, there is no guarantee of working in the same Company and hence, the same would be a drawback to the State Government for collecting taxes.
The Bench of Justice C M Poonacha observed that, “the benefits of implementing BH-Series registration was also envisaged by the Government of India, inter alia¸ that it avoided the cumbersome process of citizens bringing NOC from one State and apply for new registration mark in the other State and apply for refund of taxes from the previous State of transfer to another.”
It was also observed from the answer by the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, in the Lok Sabha discussion dated 21.7.2022 that, even though the motor vehicles shall pay tax for a period of 2 years or in multiples of it, at 25% higher rate and the same being remitted to respective State/Union Territory on-line, there is no finance loss to the State exchequer.
In the view of the above, the Karnataka High Court observed that, the attempt of the State Government to deviate from the Notification dated 26.08.2021, cannot be sustained.
The Court also allowed the appeal of the assessee and directed The Commissioner of Transport and Road Safety to register the motor vehicle of the petitioners as per the Notification dated 26.8.2021 under BHSeries, forthwith.
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