- (1.) The short question which arises for determination in this batch of civil appeals and special leave petitions concerns challenge to the constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 1998, by which initially the rate of tax in respect of contract carriage stood increased from Rs. 1500.00 per seat per quarter to Rs. 2000.00 per seat per quarter and subsequently the said rate stood enhanced from Rs. 2000.00 per seat per quarter to Rs.00 3000 per seat per quarter vide Notification No. 1184 dated 30.11.2001 with effect from 1.12.2001.
(2.) The basis of the challenge rests on the uneven burden placed on the owners of contract carriage vis-a-vis stage carriage. Broadly, it is contended that there is no rationale in the imposition of the levy, that tax is imposed indiscriminately, that it is levied to cross-subsidise stage carriage and that uneven burden has been placed on the owners of contract carriage which has no nexus with the services or amenities provided. Generally in a matter of this nature the quantifiable data forms the basis of the challenge. At the initial stage when the petition is filed in such cases there has got to be a precise formulation of the ground of challenge from the side of the appellant-petitioners based on some statistical data as to disproportionality of the rate of tax. It is only thereafter that the burden will shift on to the State to submit quantifiable and measurable data.
(3.) In the present case we find that the initial burden on the appellant-petitioners itself has not been discharged in the sense that the petition filed before the High Court was very sketchy. A challenge of this nature requires the appellant-petitioners to furnish greater details before the State could be called upon to submit quantifiable and measurable data justifying the impugned rate. Ultimately, it is the State which has to meet the allegations made in the writ petition and if those allegations made in the writ petition are vague, inaccurate or insufficient then it would not be possible for the State to submit its reply/data to the Court.;