Abhishek Kumar Vs State of West Bengal & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The petitioner, owner of a vehicle registered with the Regional Transport Officer, Bhagalpur, Bihar, challenged the levy of tax, fine and penalty imposed after the vehicle was intercepted by the Motor Vehicle Inspector, Rampurhat, on 10.06.2025 while operating under a Special Permit issued for carrying a pilgrim party between Bhagalpur and Tarapith from 08.06.2025 to 14.06.2025. The authorities alleged violation of Section 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Section 4(2)(c) of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1979. The vehicle was released upon payment of ₹1,55,660. The petitioner contended that the authorities wrongly invoked Section 4(2)(c) of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1979 and Section 3(2)(c) of the West Bengal Additional Tax and One Time Tax on Motor Vehicles Act, 1989 by reckoning a period of seventeen weeks retrospectively from the date of interception. The petitioner submitted that the vehicle had been registered only on 02.06.2025, a few days before interception, and therefore the retrospective computation of seventeen weeks had been made without proper application of mind.
The petitioner further submitted that an application dated 24.06.2025 had already been filed before the Taxing Officer under Section 13 of the relevant Act seeking refund of the amount collected through the e-challan on the ground that the penalty had been wrongly imposed by retrospectively applying the seventeen-week period prescribed under Sections 3(2)(c) and 4(2)(c). According to the petitioner, Section 13 prescribed the procedure for claiming refund or remission.
