HC asks RTO to release Chandigarh Porsche Car

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Tuesday asked the Ahmedabad regional transport office (RTO) to release a Porsche belonging to a Chandigarh-based company.
The luxurious foreign car was detained by the authority last month in a drive against tax evaders, who got their imported cars registered outside the state to avoid heavy duty.
The court also told the transport agency that if the car is found damaged, the authority would have to compensate the owner. It told the owner to bring any damage done during the detention to the notice of the court in the next hearing on March 15.
The RTO detained an imported Porsche worth Rs 77 lakh belonging to Liverpool Retail India Ltd on January 22.
The owner produced the required documents and yet the RTO did not release the car. This led the company to approach the high court through advocate BM Mangukiya against the detention.
The petitioner produced the purchase bill, road tax receipt and the registration papers before Justice HB Antani and Justice HN Devani and said that the duty of Rs 22.5 lakh was already paid at Chandigarh.
The petitioner asked why it should pay duty again in Gujarat just to visit Ahmedabad. The car was bought in Mumbai and registered in Chandigarh, where the duty was paid.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that there were enough efforts to convince the RTO authorities that the vehicle is being used in Chandigarh, but they were not ready to buy the argument despite the owner producing all the documents.
After the arguments, the division bench directed the transport authority to release the car immediately.