Alok Sharma, J. - (1.) FACTS of writ petition No. 12855/2014 are taken as the lead case for a decision on the legal question which arises in these writ petitions.
(2.) TAXATION on motor vehicles in State of Rajasthan is levied under the Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Act, 1951 (hereinafter 'the 1951 Act'). Thereunder both road tax and Special road tax are payable with reference to Section 4A and 4B. Vide notification dated 9 -3 -2011 in the exercise of powers under Section 3(1) of the 1951 Act, the State Government being of the opinion that it was expedient in public interest to do so, exempted new stage carriage passenger vehicles (hereinafter 'buses') purchased from the date of notification and registered before 31 -3 -2013 and plying exclusively on rural routes and other routes (as classified under the provisions of the Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Rules, 1990) from the payment of special road tax otherwise payable under Section 4B of the 1951 Act for a period of two years from the date of registration of newly purchased vehicles. Vide notification dated 6 -3 -2013, it was further provided that new stage carriage passenger vehicles (buses) purchased on and after 1 -4 -2013 and registered upto 31 -3 -2014 also plying exclusively on rural routes and other routes as classified under the provisions of the 1990 Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Rules, 1990 (hereinafter 'the 1990 Rules') were exempted from payment of special road tax under Section 4B of the 1951 Act for a period of three years from the date of registration. The petitioner a holder of stage carriage permit for running his bus on an inter -state route Jhunjhunu to Delhi, states that the bus was purchased subsequent to 9 -3 -2011 and registered before 31 -3 -2014. The inter -state route on which the bus is plied, the petitioner states, falls within the meaning of "other routes" under notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013 and hence is exempted from payment of special road tax under Section 4B of the 1951 Act. It has been submitted that initially the respondents took a view that petitioner's bus was so exempted, but subsequently owing to the letter dated 24 -7 -2014 issued by the Additional Transport Commissioner (Taxation) to all Regional Transport Officers and District Transport Officers, they seek to backtrack and assert that both the notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013 do not apply to inter -state routes and therefore arrears of special road tax, interest and penalty thereon from the petitioner running his vehicle an inter -state route is to be recovered. And the jurisdictional taxation officer in compliance with the order dated 24 -7 -2014 is demanding arrear of special road tax under pain of seizure of the petitioner's vehicle (bus) in issue. The letter dated 24 -7 -2014 issued by the Additional Transport Commissioner (Taxation) and the action thereon by the jurisdictional taxation officers is impugned as wholly illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the plain language of exemption notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013. The case of the petitioner is that the letter dated 24 -7 -2014 entails an unwarranted and unsustainable change of opinion on the question of liability of the petitioner to pay special road tax in respect of a bus, plying on an inter -state route which was admittedly newly purchased and registered within the period set out in the two notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013. It is submitted that earlier the District Transport Officer vide receipt dated 13 -3 -2013 while levying road tax of 12,600/ - on the petitioner's bus in issue, running on an inter -state route, had specifically recorded that special road tax under Section 4B of the 1951 Act thereon was not payable. In the aforesaid facts, a challenge has been made to the order dated 24 -7 -2014 issued by the Additional Transport Commissioner (Taxation) to jurisdictional taxation officers and the consequent demand seeking payment of special road tax allegedly due with interest and penalty under the pain of seizure of the petitioner's bus.
(3.) REPLY to writ petitions has been filed. It has been submitted that the petitioner's vehicle RJ -18/PA -3618M plies on an inter -state route i.e. Jhunjhunu to Delhi via Nrishinghpura, Narnol, Gurgaon and is not covered under exemption notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013. According to respondents the aforesaid exemptions are in terms of their plain intendment confined to rural routes and other routes of a similar discount as an incentive by the state government to encourage plying of new buses on routes which were not premium in nature and where old buses in dilapidated conditions were ordinarily run leading to poor and unreliable transport service. It has been submitted that the words "other route" in the aforesaid exemption notifications dated 9 -3 -2011 and 6 -3 -2013 have to be construed on the principle of nositur -a -sociis, take their color from the accompanying words, and be limited to routes akin to rural routes as an expansive interpretation of aforesaid words would defeat the purpose of notifications and end up including premium inter -state routes for conferment of unintended benefit.;