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| Another circular, another tax | | |
Transport Department has once again issued a circular directing the owners of the vehicles having outside registrations to get their vehicles re-registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
Thousands of vehicles bearing registration numbers of other states and union territories ply in J&K. Most of these vehicles are genuine as these have got the required No Objection Certificates (NOCs) and stand transferred on the names of the owners. Maybe there could be some in-genuine vehicles plying on the roads but it doesn’t mean that all are in-genuine.
The new circular has made it explicitly clear no person shall drive a vehicle with outside registration in J&K and these vehicles have to be registered.
One cannot understand why the Transport Department is in a hurry. It seems that the helmsmen need to be reminded that people are facing immense hardships amidst the pandemic and the process of re-registration could have waited till COVID-19 would have ended.
An earlier circular issued by the Regional Transport Officer Srinagar in the month of April this year on the same subject was quashed by a division Bench of High Court. It had given a sense of relief but the relief has proved to be short lived.
The timing of the new circular has surprised many people. Till now the lockdown hasn’t been lifted and people are struggling to survive. Now, many of them will have to bear extra burden despite their incomes dwindling during the past two years due to COVID-19. They will have to pay the road tax again to drive their own vehicles on J&K roads.
Transporters, who have been worst hit due to the COVID-19 lockdown, will have to beg and borrow to keep their vehicles running on J&K roads. One fails to understand why so many taxes are being levied on the people of Jammu and Kashmir on one or other pretext.
In the Jammu region, many people have purchased vehicles from neighbouring areas like Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab. They will have to once again complete the formalities and pay the road tax. If the new circular is not challenged, people will have to follow the law of the land and abide by the directions.
If they don’t fall in the line they could be penalized and their vehicles can be seized. A common man is at the receiving end from all the sides and seems helpless. On one hand he is fighting COVID-19 while on the other hand he has been made to bear the brunt of the taxes. |
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