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-   -   Karnataka Road Tax, Crack down announced.EDIT: High Court Judgement on Pg 36 attached (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/50465-karnataka-road-tax-crack-down-announced-edit-high-court-judgement-pg-36-attached-25.html)

I agree with your sentiment. But the problem is the implementation and the procedures involved.

I went forward to do the same here in Bangalore, but the corruption levels in this state are so high a person like me either gets shouted at or ridiculed by the lowly government officials in this state.

I did the same in Goa, got in a MH registered vehicle. Took me two days flat. Sent a GA registered vehicle to MH-07 area again a weeks time. No hassles about original invoice and all the nonsense we get here.

By the way have you got a voter ID card for Karnataka?

The procedure to change vehicle registration is 6 months long in Bangalore. Can take longer. I don't know if its shorter if you pay a bribe. I did it the proper way. (through AASI). Highly frustrating and irritating to say the least.

Hi Srikanths1,

I understand your feelings and even I am a honest citizen who pay all my taxes and dues to the govt without fail.

Infact there are a lot of similar people around, However, quite often there are few circumstances where you are forced to do some things which at first place do not seem to be correct,

I will not go into further details, but would like to mention here that I would have loved to continue using my WagonR in Bangalore and not spend 2.5 Lakhs on a used car as I could have done without it or bought the same in Gurgaon at much cheaper price than in Bangalore, had i not wanted to adhere to govt policies.

But because of the govt apathy and their hugely cumbersome process in getting refunds of your Road Tax in addition to several other factors (like NOC on Loan, Resale Value), people visiting other states for a limited period of time opt for the easier way of either avoiding/paying bribe.

OT - In my last 25 years in Delhi, I have extensively travelled in UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal in my HR registered vehicles, even upto staying for more than 1 month at a stretch, but I was never stopped by any police or RTO guy, Also, I have never seen any policemen/RTO in Delhi/Gurgaon stop any KA/KL/MP/MH/ or outside NCR vehicle being stopped just because it is plying illegally without paying Road Tax.

Does that mean Policing in North India is weaker than down here in South, even when we all know that Delhi is the Capital of India,

I would say it is more related to the mindset of State Govts rather than forcing people to adhere to what is Legal and correct, Even all neighbouring states of Karnataka have far lower RTO charges than it, yet KA people buy vehicles from KA itself, You go to Delhi and you would find different scenario there, Prior to the current increase in RTO charges, the difference between Delhi and Gurgaon for a vehicle of 4L was about 5K, but people still prefered to save that amount by registering in Gurgaon/Noida rather than Delhi,

I agree with shantanumishra's post below. I have seen quite a few DL, MH and GJ vehicles plying in Rajasthan when I was there for some time. You have cops at major intersections/ring roads catching offenders, but dont seem to pull over out of state vehicles. The truth about out of state vehicles being targeted in KA is actually a bit sensitive topic. Over the years, Bangalore has witnessed tremendous growth, and this has created work opportunities. To fill these jobs, plenty of people from other parts came in. Over time, they became influential, something the law enforcers perhaps were skeptical about. So, to show that 'I am still the boss' they pass such laws on car taxes. This is what I feel. I may be wrong, but have a hunch that due to insecurity they act that way. But all things said and done, the state is justified in charging high taxes PROVIDED they use it to improve the condition of our roads.

+ they need to make the road tax payment / refund an easy process.

It is difficult for non-kanada speaking people to get the job done themselves here - want to get any govt job done here ? learn kanada

FIRST ATTEMPT:
I did once went to jayanagar RTO - the helpdesk was empty. One guy (an agent) saw my worried looks and advised to bribe him to get the work done. I was like - no way man. I my self walked upto the counter waiting for someone to check my docs...no one seemed to be bothered to talk to me.. :Frustrati

One guy who was behind the counter came up and told that my docs are not complete - NOC is required -get this and get that...and went away...what the heck man

I wanted to tell him that i dont want to change my number, but no use

SECOND ATTEMPT:
Involved an agent who had a shop outside the RTO - he took the money and docs - NOC was not required at all. Bike registration, insurance and money

After few days - went to meet him, he told the concerned authority in RTO has changed and that i would need to pay almost double the price.

I took my money back (which he gave without any hassles).

What am i supposed to do here ? I tried to pay the govt but it seems the govt has themselves made the process cumbersome.

If the process is transparent, people would pay the takes (when coming from another state) and get a refund when going back. Its easy

Dude. we are all honest citizens here, k

Everyones scenario here is different. I keep getting transferred all the time and do you really think getting a refund is so easy. Go look up the posts where people have waited for months to get refund
Before shifting here, even I inquired, but they made me run to a hundred places to get documents. Maybe you have all the honest time in the world to go cartwheels for the government, but not me and not many other people as well

At the end of it, we all know these rules badly need to be ammended, to make it more condusive for out of state people

In this world, there are some people who keep their mouth shut and take all the crap it has to offer, including payments etc, but some people decide to protest and change the system. According to your ideology, call almost everyone on this thread dishonest, but thats how we are

I earn enough to close my eyes and throw it at their faces, but I believe in fairness as well and if the system in this place was simple enough would have been glad to do it

But sincerely, no offense meant at all, but your comment was just like adding fuel to fire. Thats why the outburst.

As many others in this thread put it, there are umpteen number of KA cars plying in other states, but never once does anyone get pulled up for reg #. When I was transferred to Bangalore 5 years earlier, I had bought a KA car and then taken it to Gurgaoan. I have been with that car all round Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Agra, Jaipur etc, but never once have I been caught for registration, even in a place like Chandigarh where traffic laws are very strict

If you have any further points to add, let us not waste the space on this thread. PM ME

The re-registration and refund from the home state are costly and cumbersome. Especially if it involved multiple occasions, and the vehicle loses resale value steadily.

I paid up the life tax (Rs 2400) without bothering to re-register because it was a bike and the amount involved was small. I wanted to get rid of a nuisance. I don't know what I would have done if I had a car.

But no other state seems to make as big a fuss about out of state vehicles as Karnataka (especially Bangalore). The way they act up one would imagine we are criminals.

I agree with you. They harass us as though we are some possible terrorists

My previous car, UP registered (though I'm from Kerala, originally). Was stopped Umpteen times just to ask "Road Tax?" Wha?? Who stops people to ask whether they've paid road tax? I've lived in Delhi with a UP registered vehicle, UP with a Delhi registered vehicle, Rajasthan with a Central Provinces registered vehicle, MP with a Delhi registered vehicle, and never been stopped just to be asked whether I've paid Road Tax. Ridiculous, the way police here in Bangalore will ride their bikes next to the car and (while we're still moving at 30/40kmph) knock on the window to ask for Road Tax!!! I mean, that's not just plain stupid, it is also downright dangerous!

Never seen, never heard of a city or state so desperate for Road Tax money. Add some pretty pathetic roadwork, the most ridiculously uneven flyovers and narrow underpasses, dirt tracks cos nobody can be bothered to sweep the roads, and I have enough reasons to be upset. Bangalore. Lovely city, otherwise :D

Hope you would have noticed this post by 'Abes'. That means road taxt would be reduced in Bangalore :)

The Financial Express has reported that the central government is planning to make vehicle tax norms uniform across the country. The story is hrere. Centre to ensure uniform vehicle tax

Actually I would call this high tax and prosecution "RTO Terrorism".
Yes there is a procedure in place which allows you to get refund, but you make this procedure so difficult, and time consuming, that it makes more sense to circumvent the system.
This of it this way. Lets say traffic policy took the outer ring road, and fixed speed limit at 10kmph, and fixed a speed camera.
you would have people driving at 10kmph near the camera, and then speeding away. In the eyes of the law all of the people would be criminals.
When India was under british rule, making salt etc., was a crime. But do we call the freedom fighters "criminals"?
If you make a law which is hard to follow, people will circumvent it.
Its high time center stepped in, put in a central road tax, and let people be. Somebody who keeps shifting every year or so will lose a lot of money and time fighting for refunds etc.,

The worst part in this whole scenario is there are many people with non-KA registered vehicles who are willing to pay road tax on an annual basis to abide by the system, but it seems such a provision only exists for Central Govt employees! What makes them superior to others?

Fedup with the state of affairs, many now choose to ride their luck with the RTO people, rather than even bother about paying the road tax which they wanted to in the first place.

I certainly do not think the central govt will be bothered with unifying road tax across the country.. state govts will oppose such a move big time since they literally mint a lot of money by way of road tax.

@ tsk1979 - I agree with you views and find it most apt.

We are all willing to follow protocol, provided it is made conducive and easy. No other state seems to have this problem, but the entire country seems to know about the ridiculous rules bangalore is throwing

Guys, can we do something about this. I mean can a lot of us not get together for a cause and fight this. Let us take it to who ever is a senior authority in this and highlight this ridiculously primitive barbarian rule.

I am all game for this. If anyone know any senior police official, govt official let us speak to them and see what we can do. May be people may laugh at us, shun us, tell us to take a hike, but atleast we can say we tried

I am in for it, although I have already sent my HR registered vehicle back and have bought a used car here, only because I could afford it, but still I am in for such a cause so that I can help out others and they dont such hassles and hardships.

Guys, please pour in your thoughts here, what little can we do to highlight this

We can spend the rest of our days on this forum talking about this, or use contacts and atleast higlight this. If someone works in the media or knows someone in the media can also get this done.

Believe me, in Gurgaon, the roads used to be pretty bad in certain stretches. Probably with someones initiatve, TOI started highlighting bad roads in the news paper everyday and urged residents to send photos of bad roads and get it displayed in the papers. This was done almost weekly several times and in no time all, if not most of the roads were laid.

We can try something here as well.