Crackdown on illegal taxi operators

HYDERABAD: The government has decided to make use of the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1963, against illegal operators of taxis and contract carriages hoping that this would increase its tax collection and also act as a deterrent against illegal plying of vehicles.
Contract carriages ply from point to point, whereas a stage carriage can operate like an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bus.Incidentally, the RTA does not issue stage carriage permits to vehicles other than the APSRTC. The transport roads and buildings department, which issued a government order (GO) on Saturday, aims at promoting genuine tourist operators by reducing the tax paid by contract carriages from Rs 1,150 per seat per quarter to Rs 850 per seat per quarter.
However, the GO has considerably increased the tax payable by vehicles caught plying as stage carriages with a contract carriage permit. According to the GO, a motor car having a seating capacity of six, if misused as a stage carriage, will attract additional tax of Rs 129 per seat per quarter, as the tax has been increased from Rs 207 per seat per quarter to Rs 336 per seat per quarter.
At the same time a motor car having a seating capacity of seven, if misused as a stage carriage, will now have to pay Rs 414 per seat per quarter instead of Rs 200 per seat per quarter. In the case of cabs having a capacity between eight and 13, the tax will go up from Rs 600 per seat per quarter to Rs 948 per seat per quarter.
The highest increase will, however, be in the case of inter-state and statewide contract carriages operators, who will have to pay Rs 3,000 per seat per quarter instead of Rs 850 per seat per quarter if caught operating as stage coaches. According to joint transport commissioner C L N Gandhi, on an average the RTA books 20 cases every day.