All outstation registered vehicles under scanner

PANAJI: A day after the state directorate of transport issued a notice demanding that vehicles with outstation registration, but plying in Goa for over 12 months will have to re-register them in the state, senior officials from the transport department told STOI that this rule is applicable to all vehicles: two, three and four-wheelers with non-Goan registration besides luxury ones.
“Every vehicle which has been in Goa for more than 12 months will have to re-register themselves with us. We have specified luxury vehicles in the notice because some people tend to purchase a high-end vehicle in the state, but pay only 1-2% tax in other states by presenting a false address or affidavit,” a transport official said. He said luxury vehicle buyers have to pay only 1% tax in Puducherry, while the tax in Goa varies from 12-18% depending on the vehicle type. This way, if a vehicle costs Rs 1 crore, they only pay Rs 1 lakh in Puducherry compared to (up to) Rs 18 lakh in Goa.
“The state should not be deprived of this revenue. By law, any vehicle which has been here for over 12 months, cannot function with the registration number of another state. You cannot take a high-end vehicle registered in Puducherry and then use the road infrastructure of Goa to drive it. Hence, we are enforcing this law,” he said.
“We are noting down the registration number of such vehicles that are caught on road and requesting them to re-register themselves. They have been given 30 days’ time for the same. A few of them, as a result, have started doing the needful,” they said.
The transport department will now investigate such vehicles by finding out whether theirs was a legal registration or done using false address or affidavit.
“We will review the registrations and take action against these violators in a months’ time. We have also asked all the dealers in the state to find out how many vehicles sold in Goa were registered elsewhere,” the official said.