STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: A section of private schools have not been paying motor vehicle tax of their buses to the Transport Department for years. They, however, charge transportation fees from their students. In Kamrup (M) alone, private schools owe around Rs 10 crore motor vehicle tax to the Transport department. The documents of many school buses are not up to date.
The Transport Department is carrying out an operation all over the state against vehicles that have not paid their motor vehicle taxes. The department has noticed that many school bus owners are also among defaulters.
The DTO, Kamrup (M,) held a meeting with the school bus owners' association, school authorities and Transport department officials yesterday.
Assistant Transport Commissioner Gautam Das said, "We have served notices to school authorities many times to clear their motor vehicle taxes but to no avail. They have been ignoring our notice. Now we have set them February 28 deadline to pay motor vehicle taxes. They want to justify that they could not pay the tax because of the Covid-19 pandemic when the school buses were off the road, school authorities didn't pay them, etc. School authorities say that they had to exempt transportation fees to the students during the pandemic, etc.
"Some school bus owners have not been paying motor vehicle taxes since the pre-pandemic period. If they have any grievances in paying motor vehicle tax, they can take it up with the government. However, as per the Motor Vehicle Act, we will demand tax from school bus owners. We have set the February 28 deadline to clear their arrears tax.
"Apart from non-payment of tax, many schools buses fail to renew their documents. Renewal of vehicle documents is mandatory. It is serious a lapse on their part. All vehicles, let alone school buses, must abide by the MV Act."
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