Carriage Permit Cannot Be Denied To Individual Over Family Member's Pending Tax Dues: Chhattisgarh High Court
The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that when the Motor Vehicles Act contains no statutory prohibition against granting a carriage permit to an individual, such permit cannot be denied on the ground that a family member has pending tax dues with any RTO. The Court observed that unless supported by a statutory embargo constituting a reasonable restriction under Article 19(6) of the Constitution of India, a default committed by one family member cannot lead to penalization or debarment of another.
Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad was hearing a writ petition filed by a bus operator, challenging orders passed by the State Transport Authority and the State Transport Appellate Tribunal rejecting his application for an Inter-State permanent stage carriage permit to ply his vehicle on the Ambikapur to Bokaro (Jharkhand) route. The rejection was on the basis of various grounds, mainly including the pending tax dues against the father of the petitioner. The petitioner submitted that the ground for rejection of the permit is not in accordance with law. He contended that no tax liabilities are outstanding against the father of the petitioner.
The Court framed the short legal question as to whether an application for grant of an Inter-State permanent stage carriage permit could be denied solely on the ground that tax dues payable by the petitioner's father had not been cleared. It noted that the petitioner was an independent bus operator who had applied for the permit in his individual capacity and, under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, possessed the fundamental right to carry on his business as a bus operator.
The Court observed that a joint reading of Articles 19(1)(g) and 19(6) makes it clear that the right to carry on any profession, occupation, trade or business can only be restricted by duly enacted legislation imposing reasonable restrictions in the interest of the general public.
“In the absence of any express statutory provision framing such restriction, the grounds taken by the STA to refuse the application of the petitioner for grant of inter-State regular stage carriage permit is impermissible,” the Court observed.
The Court further noted that the Motor Vehicles Act contains no provision disentitling an applicant from obtaining a permit merely because tax dues are outstanding against a family member, provided the applicant has no personal tax arrears.
The Court held that the analogy that tax dues owed by family members can be attributed to the applicant was legally unsustainable and violative of Article 19(1)(g). A default on the part of an individual family member cannot disentitle or debar another family member from obtaining a permit, and drawing such an adverse inference would amount to penalizing one individual for the alleged defaults of another.
“… denial of permit on such grounds is arbitrary and unreasonable and the same cannot be sustained as it violates 19(1)(g) and Article 19(6) of the Constitution of India,” the Court remarked.
The Court accordingly set aside the orders passed by the STAT and STA.
Case Title: Abhinandan Singh v. State of Chhattisgarh [WPC No. 4432 of 2024]