Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Monday ordered issue of notice to the State government on a PIL petition questioning the “explanations and notes” in the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (KMVT) Act for determining the “cost of the vehicle” to levy lifetime road tax based on the cost.A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Budihal R.B., passed the order on a petition filed by Dove Drive Without Borders Foundation, Bengaluru.

Pointing out that various “explanations and notes” were included in the Act for calculating the “cost of the vehicle”, the petition contended that such “explanations and notes” enabled the State to increase the tax without actually amending the charging provision of the Act, but indirectly altering the components based on which the tax amount is calculated.

The “explanations and notes” allows the government to include excise duty, sales tax, surcharge or cess, entry tax etc., as payable in Karnataka, while determining the “cost of the vehicle”, the petitioner said, while contending that such “explanations and notes” has the “effect of cascading taxes”.

Terming these “explanations and notes” as arbitrary and violative of Constitutional provisions, the petitioner claimed that the plain reading of Section 3 of the KMVT Act permits the State to impose road tax that must be directly linked to the cost price of the motor vehicle, which is the price of the motor vehicle excluding all other tax components.