‘Operation Numkhor’ exposes chinks in the system

Although ‘Operation Numkhor,’ launched by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, unveiled illegal imports of luxury vehicles from Bhutan to Kerala and subsequent tax evasion, the Kerala Motor Vehicles department (MVD) seems to be dragging its feet in following up on the case, despite a slew of blatant violations.

According to sources in the Customs, majority of the high-end, pre-owned cars confiscated from various parts of the State had not paid any road tax or special fees as mandated by the MVD. The charges levelled against some of the seized vehicles include bogus documentation, tax evasion, lacking vehicle fitness, and even third-party insurance coverage, despite being in use for the past few years in Kerala.

It is now up to the State Motor Vehicle Departments to track the cases of local tax evasion and ensure that the vehicles are in use in their respective jurisdiction as per law, said a Customs officer.

For one month

As per Kerala rules, vehicle registered in another State can be used in Kerala only for one month without paying any special tax or fee. For permanent re-registration, the owner must pay the road tax fixed by Kerala within 14 days after a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is issued from the State where the vehicle was originally registered. Failure to re-register in one month will attract a fine and penalty. However, if the owner pays one-fifteenth of the lifetime road tax of Kerala, the vehicle can be used here for up to one year without changing registration or producing an NOC.

In the latest case, for instance, a luxury car bearing the registration number MP-09W 1522 seized from actor Amit Chakkalackal was in use for the last five years in Kerala, as per his statement given to the Customs officials. Of the total 40 vehicles taken into custody by the Customs, around 13 vehicles seized from Malappuram were other-State registered and were in use in Kerala. One of them was even bearing a foreign embassy registration, said the Customs officer.

Commenting on the issue, C.H. Nagaraju, Kerala Transport Commissioner, said the stealthily imported luxury cars were registered in other States. Thereafter, they were transferred to Kerala, where they got re-registered. During the registration in Kerala, these vehicles will have to pay tax for the registration validity period. That is a pre-condition. The system will not allow registration without tax payment. A fitness certificate becomes relevant only at the expiry of registration and if the vehicle has to be re-registered.

Re-registration

However, the data available in the Customs reveals that only a handful of them were re-registered in Kerala, and others had been in use without changing registration. Further, it is suspected that many of the first owners of the vehicles were either bogus or resorted to bogus documentation. The process of verifying ownership of these seized vehicles is under way. There were several such cases in Kerala, and the majority of the vehicles were shifted to garages or other safe places after the Customs began the crackdown, said the officials.

It is also a difficult task to find such illegal and tax-evading vehicles from lakhs of vehicles operational in the State with the limited manpower of the department, said an MVD official.