Vehicle owners will get a 100 per cent waiver on their road tax penalties if they clear their dues by March 31, the state government announced through a notification on Tuesday.
Additionally, commercial vehicle owners will get an 80 per cent waiver on penalties for non-payment of permit fee and non-renewal of fitness certificate if they pay up by March 31.
The waiver schemes were announced in December and were to remain in force till February. On Tuesday, the government extended them till March 31.
“Provision relating to fitment of vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) as a mandatory pre-condition to the issuance of certificate of fitness, which was kept in abeyance till February 29, is further extended till March 31,” the notification, signed by transport secretary Saumitra Mohan, said.
“We want vehicle owners to clear their dues within the prescribed period so that the vehicles remain road-worthy and they don’t have to pay penalties. This will help bring down road accidents and help the state government undertake more development activities with the amount collected,” transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said.
In December, the government had issued a notification stating that the owners of commercial vehicles would be eligible for a 100 per cent waiver of the penalties for late payment of permit fee and the fee for renewal of fitness certificate if the entire due is cleared by January 30.
Those who would clear the dues by February 29, the December notification said, would be entitled to an 80 per cent waiver.
The notification had also said vehicle owners would get a 100 per cent waiver on their road tax penalties if they cleared their dues by February-end
On Tuesday, the government decided to extend each deadline to March 31.
“A section of the owners of commercial vehicles such as buses, minibuses and pool cars had sought an extension of the waiver period,” said a transport department official. “We sent a proposal to the finance department and the state government has agreed to extend the waiver period till March 31.”
Out of 1.5 crore-odd vehicles registered with the state government, the owners of around 12.5 lakh have defaulted on road tax payment, the official said.
The owners of close to 8 lakh vehicles have not renewed the fitness certificate by clearing the dues, records reveal.
“The fee for a fitness test is around Rs 600. But the dues can add up to Rs 20,000 if the fee remains unpaid — and the vehicle not subjected to the test — for years,” said Rahul Chatterjee, general secretary of the All Bengal Bus Minibus Samannay Samity.
Transport officials said a huge amount remains unpaid in the form of road tax and penalty for over a decade. Owners of goods vehicles form a large chunk of the defaulters.
“The government’s goal is not to collect fines but to ensure vehicles plying on roads are worthy of doing so,” an official said.
“A vehicle isn’t supposed to hit the roads without paying taxes,” a transport department official said.
The government gives a 15-day “grace period” for road tax payment after the deadline. After that, a defaulter attracts a fine of 25 per cent of the tax for the first 45 days.
“Between 46 and 75 days, if the tax remains unpaid, the owner invites a 50 per cent penalty. Thereafter, the penalty amount is 100 per cent,” the officer said.
