Gordhanbhai Virjibhai Roy Vs State of Gujarat & Ors (Gujarat High Court)
Summary: Gujarat High Court rejected the writ petition filed by Gordhanbhai Virjibhai Roy challenging orders imposing vehicle tax in respect of passenger bus No. DD-02-9061, registered with the Regional Transport Office, Diu. The petitioner had paid Gujarat motor vehicle tax of Rs.20,376/- for the period from 25 July 2023 to 1 August 2023. The bus was subsequently detained on 6 September 2023, and the authorities ultimately levied arrears of tax from 2013 to 2023. The petitioner challenged the levy principally on the ground that the authorities had merely presumed that the vehicle had been plied in Gujarat throughout that period. He contended that the burden was on the authorities to establish actual use of the bus in Gujarat and expressed willingness to pay tax only for the admitted period of overstay.
The Revenue opposed the petition by pointing to several statutory and factual deficiencies. It submitted that the vehicle’s fitness certificate had expired in January 2013; the bus, originally registered with seating capacity of 40+1, had been altered into a 38-sleeper-berth bus; and no approval for such alteration had been produced. Inspection further revealed issues concerning the chassis and engine particulars. The Revenue relied upon Sections 3 and 4 of the Gujarat (Bombay) Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1958 and the statutory scheme governing vehicles “used or kept for use” in the State. It submitted that, in the absence of a prescribed declaration or certificate of non-use, Section 3(2) created a deeming fiction that the vehicle was used or kept for use in Gujarat.
