Owners of all transport vehicles, who have to pay the quarterly advance Motor Vehicle Tax. should pay it immediately and not wait for the month-end, said Deputy Transport Commissioner Ch. Sivalingaiah. Addressing a press conference at his office here on Tuesday the DTC said only 12,497 of the 95,425 transport vehicles in the district had paid Rs.4.55 crore of the Rs. 21 crore that was due to the department. He said there was just seven days for the owners to pay the advance tax before April 30. A special drive was going to be taken up from April 30 midnight to penalise those who have not paid the advanced tax till May 15.
“Once the date changes the vehicle owners are liable to pay 50 per cent as penalty if the come voluntarily and 200 per cent as penalty if a case was booked against them on the road,” Mr Sivalingaiah said.
The tendency of the vehicle owners was to wait for the last moment to pay but they would run into problems if the systems at the different collection centres fail. They would have to pay 50 per cent extra once the date changes.
He said 28,876 goods vehicles, 386 contract carriages (buses) and 4,230 three-wheelers had yet to pay the tax. Five officers would be conducting raids in Vijayawada and two each in Gudivada and Nandigama, he said.
Contract carriers
Mr Sivalingaiah said the association of contract carriers (CC) had appealed to the High Court about the enhancement in the quarterly advance tax for CC buses, but the court had not issued any instruction not to collect the tax in response to the plea. The tax would be refunded if the court struck down the enhancement of tax, but if the owners waited till the court gave its decision they might end up paying the penalty, he said.
