Vehicle registration fee: Court fixes April 17 for next hearing

LAHORE: Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of Lahore High Court on Tuesday fixed April 17 for arguments on a plea challenging levy of registration fee by Excise and Taxation Department on capital value of vehicles. The Punjab government had submitted its reply claiming that it had the right to collect this fee. It stated that the purchase prices had nexus with the horsepower of the vehicle and provincial government had the authority to collect the fee. Petitioner Zaheer Siddique through Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique submitted that the fee, imposed by the department for registration of vehicles, was illegal and against the Constitution. He asserted that the fee on capital value could be imposed by the federal government only in view of item 50/54 of federal legislative list and the provinces had no authority to impose it. He said that registration fee, such as that charged in Punjab, was not imposed in other provinces, therefore, it was discriminatory and in violation of article 25 of the Constitution. He requested the court to cancel the registration fee.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2012.