Guidelines for registration of imported bikes

“The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) is now probing the case. But on our part,we have launched a hunt to track these bikes. Till last week,we traced 38 bikes in Mumbai,Thane,Pen Alibaug and Pune and collected tax of Rs 18.65 lakh,” said Kapoor.

Most of the owners of these bikes give fake addresses and evade the registration fees. “We have asked the bike owners to produce the customs clearance certificate issued to them,by which we can ascertain the actual price of the bike,” added Kapoor. Initially,the RTO officials had shown reluctance to abide by these guidelines under the pretext of not understanding the documents cleared by the customs. The officers were then specially trained by the customs officials.

The registration certificate of the bike would also be sent to the owner at their residence in a self-addressed envelope,which will minimise the scope of giving fake addresses. More importantly,the RTOs and the deputy RTOs have been made accountable for registering these bikes. They have to verify the papers and then give permission to the RTO inspector to register the bike.

“Earlier,the registration of these imported bikes was done by an inspector-rank officer. If RTOs and deputy RTOs overlook the registration procedure,there would be more accountability and less room for tax evasion,” Kapoor said. 

Imported bikes scam: court orders action against 3 RTO officers
The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the principal secretary of transport department to take action against three officers attached to the Regional Transport Office for their alleged role in the imported bikes racket.

The court directive came after it suo motu converted a newspaper report on the racket into a PIL. The report,published in a Marathi daily,said the racketeers import spare parts of foreign-made sports bikes,assemble them in India and sell the bikes to evade customs duty.

Senior counsel Aspi Chenoy has been appointed as amicus curie (friend of the court) to assist the court in the case.

Transport secretary’s report on the matter indicted three RTO officers —A R Shaikh,E G Khandale and Bajrang Kharmate.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice A M Khanwilkar expressed surprise that even after newspaper report,no action had been taken.

The court ordered action against the three officers,who are still working with RTO,to prevent further loss to the government.

Advocate General Ravi Kadam submitted that a CID inquiry was on into the case.

The court has sought report of the inquiry,as well as reports prepared by transport commissioner,transport secretary and department of revenue intelligence in the case.