Tax on used vehicles: Dept deflates figures

Friday, 30/11/2012

http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

CHANDIGARH: Commit a blunder, blame it on the media, and then spend the taxpayer’s lakhs of rupees to make amends. That’s precisely what the Punjab transport department has done to cover up its costly administrative faux pas of publishing an incomplete and ambiguous notification on November 6 about t he Punjab Motor Vehicle Taxation ( Amendment) Ordinance, 2012.

The department had mooted a proposal for imposing a slew of taxes to mobilise about Rs 108 crore. The seven- page cabinet memorandum ( HT has a copy) was approved at the August 28 meeting of the council of ministers. One of the proposals of this memorandum was to amend the Punjab Vehicles Taxation Act, 1924, and levy tax in case of transfer of ownership of seven types of motor vehicles.

Clause 4 of the four- page November 6 notification dealt with “lump sum motor vehicle tax” to be imposed while transferring ownership of vehicles.

It reads: “In the principal Act, in the Schedule, in Serial No 1, for clause ( b) and the entries relating thereto, the following clause and the entries relating thereto shall be substituted.”

This clause b states “in the case of transfer of ownership of following kinds of motor vehicles already registered in Punjab”, the tax regarding “all types of two- wheelers is Rs 2,500 per vehicle; all types of three- wheelers, Rs 10,000; all types of four- wheelers, except tractors, Rs 30,000; six- wheelers, Rs 50,000, etc.”

On the basis of this notification, Hindustan Times had on November 24 published the news report, “300 times more tax on used vehicle deals in Punjab”.

After HT took note of this notification, the transport department mandarins published a public notice in a number of newspapers ( including HT), blaming this paper for wrongly presenting the facts.

Now, it emerges that to allegedly cover up its lapses, the department issued a new notification dated November 22 ( HT has a copy). In this notification, the department deleted the last zero of every figure to reduce the tax amount. For example, in the first notification, the tax on transferring ownership of two- wheelers was Rs 2,500, in the second, it was reduced to Rs 250.

Apparently realising the mistakes committed in the first notification, the second clearly states that “the rate of motor vehicles tax to be levied with effect from November 23, 2012, on the transfer of motor vehicles already registered in Punjab as per the schedule given below” will be Rs 250 ( two- wheelers), Rs 1,000 ( three- wheelers), Rs 3,000 ( four- wheelers), Rs 5,000 ( six- wheelers) etc.

The second notification is yet to be printed by the government as it was forwarded to the controller, printing and stationery department, for publication after the HT story appeared.

“Fifty copies of this notification may be sent to this department for official use,” states the second notification, while forwarding the copy to the controller, printing and stationery.

When contacted, additional state transport commissioner ( STC) Harmel Singh remained evasive and did not clarify under what compelling circumstances the department issued a revised notification.

However, secretary, transport, Mandeep Singh s ai d: “Some DTOs ( district transport officers) had also raised queries about the first notification… There were some clarifications needed… the ambiguity had to be clarified so that there is no confusion.”