Govt restrained from collecting cess for BMRTL

Govt restrained from collecting cess for BMRT
Vijay Times

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday restrained the State Government from collecting cess on Motor Vehicle Tax towards the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit (BMRT) project.

Declaring the collection of cess in this regard as unconstitutional, Justice R Gururajan observed that if the government had spent the cess already collected appropriately, probably, the cry of bad or no roads by the travelling public would have not have been there.

M/s Sharma Transports, in their petition, stated that the government had imposed a cess of 5 per cent on Motor Vehicle Tax towards the BMRT, which had come into effect on April 1, 1995. Stating that the same is impermissible, the petitioners also sought refund of amount paid as cess so far.

Justice Gururajan stated that the Government had transferred the tax to the government fund and the same was being released for public purpose. "The government has failed on facts not only to prove the nexus but also the justification in terms of rulings. The petitioners are right in their submission with regard to impermissibility of collecting cess in this regard. Hence a direction by way of prohibition is issued to the Government from levying and collecting any cess”, the court added.

The Court however stated that it cannot order refund of the amount collected as cess so far.