[BWN]

Hi Folks

Just return from Mysore - Bangalore - Mysore trip on this long Onam weekend.I had to drop my mother in bangalore on monday evening and drive back to mysore on tuesday morning.Happily started from Mysore at 3 PM and was nearing bangalore at good speeds and the drive was un eventfull till we were flagged down after a barricade, just a km before Kengeri by a guy.Lots of sand lorries were flagged down and i thought it would be a general check up but then it struck me suddenly that I have a TN number plate . A man in khaki&khaki(Driver of a RTO jeep) instructs me how to park and asks me to take all the documents and show it to the officer sitting in the jeep.

Let me tell you the background.I returned to india in mid july and decided to take take the car(baleno) to carry my luggage from salem to mysore.Did a insurance renewal and got a PUC there and safely kept the latest petrol bill for want of proof.My plan was to use the car here for a month or so and then drive it back and take it whenever i feel like.In short, i wanted to use it in-frequently in mysore,thus utilising the loop holes of the law.Now, due to some family commitments, i had to drop my mother in bangalore and the rest of the story follows.

I show him the DL and RC.He sees and exclaims its a "Temilnad gaadi ya".I say yes and show him the PUC and insurance and promptly take back all the docs except the RC, which he pretends to read every page of it and starts asking me questions in kannada and I prefer to answer him in english.
RTO - Where do you stay and work.
Me - I stay in mysore(shifted recently) and work there.

RTO - Why the Tax is not paid in karnataka.
Me - THis is my mothers vehicle(she is the owner) and its here for a short time, and as I understand that i am not intending it to use it here, i dont ahve to pay any taxes.

RTO - You should know the Law of the land.I will have to seize the vehicle now and explain other things in the Court of law.Rules are diff in karnataka.
Me - You can do your duty, but after letting me know my offence.As far as i know, its Indian motor vehicle act and not Karnataka MV act and that i know that some taxation comes under the state legislation.

RTO - Vehicle is plying karnataka without paying taxes.I am here to generate revenue to karnataka govt.Pls pay taxs now or talk in court.
Me - I tell him i am not an illiterate and i am aware of the law.It says i can use a vehicle in other state for a period of 11 months without any issues by paying a nominal amount as tax and I dont have to pay a single pie if i am using it for 6 monhts.but in my case, the vehicle is not even 1 monht in karnataka and i can prove it.

He is not ready to listen and shows that i have to pay 12.5k for a 6 year old baleno.He said that i can take the RC back after paying and he would send a guy wth me to locate the nearest ATM(what a value add).I stood there patiently for some time.Went o my mother and explained and then took the petrol bills and went to him with a grim face.He then offered to give the RC back but shall keep my DL.I said its not possible for me to drive without a DL to the ATM and get money, for which he says that his guy will take care of the traffic police in case of trouble.He then signals to his driver and he brings a local kid of hardly 20 years of age.Seeing this, i loose my cool and blast him then and there.

I say I have proved everyhting from my side.My Insurance, PUC and the last bill states that I am a visitor and using my mothers car for dropping her.Moreover i am ready to pay the nominal fees for using the car here for a month and for the intended period below 6 months.I cannot pay the life time tax of 12.5k nor i shall allow him to seize the vehicle and i shall answer the court if i get a letter from them.I ask him if the guy who was about to be sent with me is an Employee of Govt of karnataka and that will the Honurable court of law permit such assitance from the GOvt of karnataka.Ultimately, let it be that i havnt paid the taxes...... what next.....? Write a challan of 100Rs as a spot fine for driving an other state vehicle without paying lifetime tax......... by this... he was shell shocked and was speechless........... my mother came down to pacify me and on seeing her, he gave back the RC book........ and i drove back rather frustrated.

Folks.... i know that i can prove i am a visitor since the vehicle is not in my name..... and i dont need an authorisation letter from the owner since i am a blood relative fo the owner and i can prove that to them from my DL.RC has my mother name with W/O my father...... and my DL says i am S/O my father......... i even had to explain him this........... I know its sheer harresment but it should have its limit...... law is not tranparent for a common man and i know these govt officers can do anyhting the tune of putting banned substance and booking me under serious offences....... Is there any relief from these hooligans....... We are in a free country but without freedom.Shame on such people guys.........

[jango]

@BWN sorry to hear abt the bad experience you had in b'lore, but these kind of issues are very common here. All the cops here knows that there are loads of outsiders in the city driving out of state reg cars and bikes, so they just jump in anytime and everywhere to make some quick bucks. All you need is to carry the petrol bill, which can obviously prove that you have just entered karnataka recently. If he threatens you to take u to court, just tell him that you are fine with it, as u urself are confident that you can prove urself, at this point most of the mamus would come down and would accept 100 or 200 buck and may let you go, but again the question is why pay for no fault of urs ??. I had paid my bike's karnataka tax in 2003, and till date i get pinned down whenever they see my bike coz it has an outside state reg. They check all the docs, and finally tell me that i have a faulty silencer and stuff and try to make some money. O'coz now i don't need to pay them too much, i manage with a 100buck note, but the best thing to do is to avoid these corrupted cops....

[benbsb29]

BWN, this is not an isolated experience which you faced. Search on the forum, and you can come across the same rants from many other members, including myself.

As for what we can do about it... make ourselves aware of the law, and stand by it.

[BWN]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

BWN, this is not an isolated experience which you faced. Search on the forum, and you can come across the same rants from many other members, including myself.

As for what we can do about it... make ourselves aware of the law, and stand by it.

I know its not an isolated experience and hence I was fully prepared for it arming mysefl with petrol bills and others documents, but what got on my nerves was the kind of attitude towards us even after knowing that we are not erring.... I have most of the threads regarding this and decided to post my experience so that fellow bhpi'ans can be aware of this.

The very thought of booking us in some other kind of a case(narcotics etc) frightens you for a moment, but i know its too much of imagination

[gbpscars]

that is frustrating indeed BWN, but dont you think this has got something to do with the water and electricity / tamilnadu and karnataka

my dad has been through enough of this when he had a TN registration and used to drive it between hosur and bangalore, and even more when our KA registration was driven to chennai, all this even 10 years ago.

[benbsb29]

I guess cops in Maharashtra are more prone to framing you in such ways, but i infer this. Normally, when they begin to get overly irritating, its best to pay a bit. Not that i am in support of bribing, but there are times when it totally gets on your nerves.

@gpbscars : Its not limited to the cases where the car is from TN alone. Almost anything which reads other than KA is caught and fined. People with KL cars seem to be better off, as it can look like KA from afar. Like i always moan, makes you feel that this aint one country.

[rahul_intlad]

and i dont need an authorisation letter from the owner since i am a blood relative fo the owner and i can prove that to them from my DL.

I keep reading about this,unfortunately still not very clear about the subject could someone kindly tell me if I drive somebody elses car does that mean I need to carry an authorization letter always[including the local intra-city drives as well].

In what cases are authorisation letters required and when not,please could somebody help me in this regard.

[BWN]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

In what cases are authorisation letters required and when not,please could somebody help me in this regard.

I am not sure of what the law says about this, i have learnt from an RTO official that a blood relative of the owner can drive it without any issues till he is able to prove his relation and identity when demanded.This is allowed becasue people WITHOUT a DL can own a vehicle, so they need a person with DL to drive it.

But in other cases, an authorisation letter on a stamp paper with an attestation from a Notary Public should suffice the need.This holds good in case of employing a driver too.

Unfortunately laws are not clear nor are the fines and penalisations.All i can get from the Karnataka RTO website is that 100 Rs is the fine fo driving an oter state vehicle without paying taxes....... but i dont understand why people are charged 500plus with challan when they get caught.

[narayan]

is it possible to pay tax for 1 year / 2 years and drive in a different state without changing the regn number....

my car is originally a KL reg vehicle - when i got transferred to TN - and since the company was bearing all costs - i got it registered in TN with a TN number...

now im changing jobs and heading up north to GURGAON - i personally dont want to bear the cost of the transfer

can u still legally drive the vehicle in Gurgaon with a TN number by paying a nominal tax ???

[BWN]

Originally Posted by narayan

is it possible to pay tax for 1 year / 2 years and drive in a different state without changing the regn number....

I think yes.... atleast by my experience with this RTO guy, it seems that you can pay a LTT(based on age and cost of your car) and drive it without re-registering it.Tax paid Receipt should suffice.It seems this is what the Karnataka law says..........

[spadival]

There is a saying "The Law is an A.S.S". Its an apt description for the road tax rules that are applicable in our country/state/district/city/adda/gulley/village.

You can try writing to a senior IAS officer in the state transport department about this undue harassment without rhyme or reason, even on the face of documented evidence that the car was inside Karnataka only for a month.

I had done the same while in AP (wrote to Transport commisioner, Govt of AP) and I got a very favourable result . These IAS/officer level cadres tend to have some human qualities left in them compared to the street level beasts. And they tend to respond to your complaints these days, more so because of RTI Act.

[Prithvi]

This country will never change. Mera Bharat Mahan, we need to teach these guys a lesson. Wish this was the west. Bang Bang end of the story, instead of being treated like a criminal. All RTO guys are the biggest crooks and just want to make a quick buck.

[gopinathann]

Apart from petrol bills you can use toll tickets when going to other states which has the date.

[diwa]

I am not sure if I am rite. But have heard that when you cross inter state borders, you can register your car at the border check post (RTO check point) and take a receipt for entering another state. Something like a permit which the tourist cars get.

Is there a rule like this or is there a possiblity we can do this?? so that we can have a piece of mind for the period of stay and not being harrassed.

[BWN]

Originally Posted by diwa

I am not sure if I am rite. But have heard that when you cross inter state borders, you can register your car at the border check post (RTO check point) and take a receipt for entering another state. Something like a permit which the tourist cars get.

Is there a rule like this or is there a possiblity we can do this?? so that we can have a piece of mind for the period of stay and not being harrassed.

You are right.There is a provision of getting a receipt by paying a nominal fess( Rs 35 for a car i think) from the border RTO checkpost, but we are not very clear about its use and validity.

@gopinathann - Toll tickets come handy in these situations, but we drove through sathyamangalam to mysore :(.Funniest part was that we waited in the RTO check post near aasanur for getting this receipt, but it was unmanned.After a wait of 15 mins in rain we decided to move on.