Have more than one car? Be prepared to be taxed
The Delhi government has proposed a
tax on vehicle owners who have two or more vehicles and told the Delhi High
Court this was necessary to ease the worsening traffic situation in the
capital.
'To ease out the traffic on the
roads first and foremost step is to put an hold on the registration of the
vehicles. And for those people who have more than two vehicles registered on
their names, we are planning to slap more taxes on them in the form of road
taxes, parking charges, area pricing and other such taxes,' Pahwa submitted.
As per traffic police 30 percent of
the vehicles plying on the road are cars along with 62 percent of two-wheeler
vehicles. Appreciating the traffic police's suggestion, the bench asked the
government to consider them.
The court was hearing a petition by
NGO Manushi, which said that the court's order and the MCD's policy of banning
rickshaws from the main arterial roads and Chandni Chowk area in Old Delhi was
arbitrary and violated the fundamental rights of rickshaw pullers.
The court while reserving the order
asked the Munipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD)counsel to submit the wriiten
arguments within a week's time. The government had earlier suggested
introduction of biometric badges to the cycle rickshaw pullers.
'Every rickshaw puller is to be
issued a biometric badge. Traffic police will be provided with hand-held
biometric badge readers to check the authenticity of the rickshaw puller,'
Meera Bhatia, standing counsel of Delhi Police, said.
The Delhi government has also suggested that the MCD consider adopting
different colour codes for each city zone.
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