Anshika Tiwari –
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Sanjay Dhar issued notice to Commissioner/Secretary to Transport Department, Transport Commissioner and ARTO Srinagar for defying the judgment of the court with regard to re-registration of non-local vehicles and issuing a fresh circular in that respect.
In April 202, re-registration of non-J&K vehicles was challenged before the court and the court had quashed a Circular issued by RTO, Kashmir, mandating the vehicle owners who have purchased their vehicles from outside Jammu and Kashmir, bearing outside registration mark, to apply for a new registration mark in the Union Territory.
The impugned circular was quashed to the extent it mandated fresh registration of outside J&K vehicles.
The present notice from the High Court to the authorities has been given in response to a fresh Circular issued by the Commissioner/Secretary to Transport-Hirdesh Kumar.
The said circular directed all the RTO and ARTOs to prohibit any person from driving any vehicle or cause any vehicle to be driven in any public place or in any other place unless it is registered in accordance with the Motor Vehicles Act 1988.
It has also come to the notice of the court that its earlier judgment has been deliberately misinterpreted in order to give effect to otherwise illegal acts on part of authorities.
The Court directed that a lifetime tax that is levied at the point of registration of a vehicle in terms of Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles Act, cannot be levied on a vehicle registered, merely on a presumption that a vehicle registered outside the Union Territory of J&K has remained in the UT of J&K for a period of exceeding 12 months.
On a combined assessment of the petitioner’s challenge and the rules framed under the Motor Vehicles Act, the Court has arrived at a just and proper conclusion that the impugned circular issued by RTO Kashmir is unnecessary.