Girish Kumar T.V vs The Joint Regional Transport ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 8290 Ker

                IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                                PRESENT
          THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH KUMAR SINGH
     TUESDAY, THE 1ST DAY OF AUGUST 2023 / 10TH SRAVANA, 1945
                        WP(C) NO. 13768 OF 2019
PETITIONER/S:

          GIRISH KUMAR T.V.
          AGED 39 YEARS
          S/O VISHWANATHAN, THAYAMPADAMVIL HOUSE, NEELESHWARAM,
          KALADY.
          BY ADV P.DEEPAK


RESPONDENT/S:

    1     THE JOINT REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER,ANKAMALY
          ANKAMALY-683572.
    2     THE SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE
          PERUMBAVOOR POLICE STATION-683542.
OTHER PRESENT:

          RESHMITA RAMACHANDRAN(GP)


     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
01.08.2023, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 13768 OF 2019
                                     2


                  DINESH KUMAR SINGH, J.
       ...................................................................
                    W.P(C) No.13768 of 2019
      .....................................................................
          Dated this the 1st day of August, 2023

                               JUDGMENT

The present writ petition under Article 226 of the

Constitution of India has been filed impugning the demand

of tax on vehicle bearing registration No. KL-63/3405,

which is a goods carriage vehicle of the petitioner.

2. The petitioner's case is that the said vehicle was

stolen on 16.09.2018 and the petitioner had filed FIR

No.2405/2018 in respect of the theft of his vehicle with

Perumbavoor Police Station. Then the Police could

recovered the said vehicle on 30.03.2019. Learned counsel

for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is not liable to

pay tax for the period when he was not in possession of the

said vehicle, as a result of theft of the vehicle on

16.09.2018.

3.Admittedly, the petitioner had not given any

intimation to the Transport Authority regarding theft of the

vehicle and claiming exception for payment of tax for the WP(C) NO. 13768 OF 2019

period during which the vehicle was not in his possession as

a result of theft of the vehicle. It was the duty of the

petitioner to intimate the factum of theft of the vehicle to

the Transport Authority and after the vehicle was

recovered, he ought to have intimated that the vehicle had

been recovered. No such action appears to have been

taken by the petitioner. Therefore, I am of the view that the

petitioner's writ petition before this court is not liable to be

entertained. When the petitioner himself is in default, he

cannot approach the constitutional court which is an

equitable remedy for grant of the relief sought in the writ

petition.

4. At this stage, Smt. Reshmita Ramachandran,

learned Government Pleader submits that there is Amnesty

Scheme in respect of the Motor Vehicle Tax which is in

force and the petitioner can approach the jurisdictional

Regional Transport Office ('the RTO' for short) for

compounding the tax liability for the period during which

the vehicle was not in his possession as a result of theft of

the vehicle.

Considering the aforesaid submission, the present writ WP(C) NO. 13768 OF 2019

petition is disposed of with a liberty to the petitioner to

approach the concerned jurisdictional RTO for

compounding the tax for the period from 16.09.2018 to

30.03.2019 under the Amnesty Scheme of the department.

If the petitioner moves such an application within period of

ten days, the said application should be decided considering

the fact that the vehicle was not in the possession of the

petitioner for the period from 16.09.2018 to 30.03.2019.

The petitioner would be free to cite any case law before the

authority concerned. For a period of fifteen days from

today, the interim order dated 17.05.2019, shall remain in

operation.

The writ petition is disposed of as above.

Sd/-

DINESH KUMAR SINGH JUDGE SJ WP(C) NO. 13768 OF 2019

APPENDIX OF WP(C) 13768/2019

PETITIONER EXHIBITS EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION OF VEHICLE BEARING REGISTRATION NO.KL-63/3405.

EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE EXAMINATION REPORT DATED 20.4.2019.

EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE MEMO DATED 7.5.2019. EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 22.6.2007 IN W.A.NO.2265 OF 2002.

EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 24.9.2013 IN WPC NO.18051 OF 2010.