A division bench of the High Court of Hyderabad directed all the transport operators, who enter the Telangana State to pay Motor Vehicle Tax as demanded by the Transport Department of the State.
Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar on Friday gave this direction while hearing a batch of petitions filed by various transporters, who operate contract carriage and goods vehicles. The bench said that the money collected shall be kept in a separate account under the control of Commissioner of Transport, Telangana State and shall not be used for any other purpose.
It may be mentioned here that a controversy broke out when Telangana Government began collecting MV tax from the intervening midnight of March31 - April 1. The A.P Reorganisation Act of 2014 empowers the two newly created States to impose tax on all private vehicles coming from outside the State. Telangana Government had ordered collection of such tax in June 2014.
However, following request from lorry and private operators, Governor (who is common to both the states) had then taken a decision barring either State from imposing any tax for the intra-transport of passengers and goods till midnight of March 31, 2015.
Aggrieved transport operators had knocked at the doors of the High Court and got a reprieve on April 2 when the Court asked the Telangana Government to accept an indemnity bond furnished by the petitioners for the tax demanded from the authorities till it pronounces comprehensive interim relief order. It had asked the Telangana Government to file a counter affidavit. Further, the court ruled that the vehicles of these operators shall not be alienated.
In protest against the decision of the Telangana Government to implement the tax levy, several bus operators from Andhra Pradesh had suspended their services and three of them approached the court.
