The Rajasthan High Court has quashed one-time road tax demands, challans and related action against private cars registered outside the state, ruling that the levy could not be imposed without a specific government notification prescribing the applicable rates. The court has also ordered authorities to refund any amount recovered within 30 days of receiving a copy of the judgment.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay K Agrawal and Justice Sameer Jain passed the order while deciding a batch of writ petitions, including one filed by Harpy Core Network India Private Limited through its director Surender Singh. The petitions challenged demands raised by Rajasthan transport authorities against vehicles registered in other states and brought into Rajasthan.
The petitioners argued that the state did not have the statutory authorisation required to impose one-time tax on private, non-transport vehicles registered outside Rajasthan. The court examined Section 4(1) of the Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1951, which contains separate provisions for vehicles registered within and outside the state.
The bench observed that Section 4(1)(c), which applies to vehicles registered outside Rajasthan and using roads in the state, requires the government to notify the applicable tax rates in the official gazette. According to the judgment, the notification issued on July 10, 2024, did not satisfy that requirement for private cars.
The court noted that the 2024 notification covered goods and passenger vehicles but did not prescribe corresponding rates for private vehicles. In the absence of such a notification, the authorities could not legally demand one-time road tax from the petitioners’ cars, the bench held.
The judgment also referred to Rule 28 of the Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Taxation Rules, 1951. The rule exempts private vehicles registered outside Rajasthan from taxation when they are brought into the state temporarily for a period not exceeding 30 days.
On that basis, the court held that the levy imposed on the petitioners was unconstitutional and without authority of law. It quashed the impugned challans, tax demands and consequential actions taken against the vehicles.
The ruling places the statutory notification process at the centre of Rajasthan’s ability to collect road tax from out-of-state private vehicles. It also creates a specific refund obligation for amounts already recovered in the cases covered by the petitions. Authorities are required to process those refunds within 30 days after receiving a copy of the court order.
