The High Court of Hyderabad today gave a direction to all the transport operators entering the Telangana State to pay the Motor Vehicle Tax to the Telangana State Transport Department.
A Division Bench consisting of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, at the same time, directed that the Tax money collected should be kept in a separate account under the control of the Transport Commissioner of Telangana State, till a final verdict was delivered by the Court in the matter. The Tax amount collected should not be used for any purpose, the Bench said.
The Bench gave these directions while hearing a batch of petitions filed by Transport operators who ply contract carriages and goods vehicles.
It may be mentioned that the Telangana State Government had ordered levy and collection of Motor Vehicle Tax from April 1, this year, as the A P Reorganization Act, 2014, had empowered the two new States , Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, to levy and collect the tax. This order has been challenged in the High Court by some of the Transport operators, and the High Court had ordered, on April 2, the Telangana Government to take the indemnity bonds furnished by the petitioners for the Tax demanded, till it passed further order. The Court had then asked the Telangana State Government to file a counter affidavit. (NSS)
