Hyderabad: Hyderabad resident Kishore Rai dragged the Road Transport Authority to the Hyderabad District Consumer Forum for charging Rs 51,000 extra to register his vehicle.
As per Schedule 6 of the Motor Vehicle Act, the RTA is supposed to charge the registration fee on the cost of the vehicle (invoice price, after discount) and not the showroom price.
The RTA with no rule to support it has been charging the registration fee on the undiscounted vehicle price, lost its case at the consumer forum to Mr Rai.
Explaining how the RTA is overcharging. Mr Sanjeev Mehta from Himayatnagar said that for two two years, TS RTA had been collecting the difference in life tax (between ex-showroom price and invoice price) at the time of permanent vehicle registration.
He said the MV Act says that life tax is to be collected on the invoice price (actual amount collected from the customer) and not on the printed ex-showroom price. “Most customers take discounts and so the invoice is made only after discounts are deducted,” Mr Mehta said.
Vehicle owners represented the issue several times to the RTA, which continues to collect the excess fee. Every month about 5,000 cars and 20,000 two-wheelers are registered in the state.
The undivided Andhra Pradesh had issued a circular (MemoNo.13/4515/R1/2008 dt.30-08-2008) stating: “Life tax is to be collected upon the sale based on the net invoice price of the vehicle.” However that circular is not followed by the TRS government.
Asked about the discrepancy, a senior RTA officer said showrooms were discounting the prices of accessories and not on the vehicles. “The off-road price of the vehicle remains the same. These discounts are not true in nature. By reducing the life tax fee, revenue of the government will be affected.”
He said that there was no law to back this practice. Had there been a law, the RTA would have explained it to the citizens or in court.
Based on the direction given by the consumer forum to the RTA to refund the excess amount, the Delhi RTA amended its tax law and no longer collects life tax on ex-showroom price.
