New Delhi, Nov. 12: The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the enhancement of Motor Vehicles Tax on “omnibuses” imposed by a Tamil Nadu Government notification dated September 20, 1971 from Rs. 30 per seat per quarter to Rs. 100 per seat per quarter.
Mr. Justice Mathew, who delivered the judgement of the Bench dismissing a batch of writ petitions filed by certain affected omnibus operators in Tamil Nadu, also held that the distinction made between “contract carriages” and “stage carriages” in the matter of levy of Motor Vehicles Tax did not offend Article 14 of the Constitution (dealing with equality before law, etc).
The Bench which included the Chief Justice Mr. Justice Ray and Mr. Justice Alagiriswami rejected a plea of the petitioners that the impugned notification was not a measure of taxation but a device to eliminate the competition of “omnibuses” (contract carriages) with the “stage carriages” run by the Government.
The Court said that, as the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, had authorised the Government to levy the tax, the question of motive with which the tax was imposed “is immaterial.” “There can be no plea of a colourable exercise of power to tax if the Government had power to impose the tax and the fact that the imposition of the tax was for the purpose of eliminating competition would not detract from its validity.”
Published - November 14, 2024 04:35 am IST
