Jammu & Kashmir High Court to pronounce on validity of circular mandating re-registration of vehicles purchased outside J&K

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court has reserved its verdict in a plea challenging the validity of the government decision mandating re-registration of vehicles purchased from outside the Union Territory (Zahoor Ahmad Bhat V/s Government of J&K and Others). .A Bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Vinod Chatterji Koul heard the plea challenging a circular dated March 27, 2021 issued by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kashmir in this regard. The circular said that it will be compulsory for owners who have purchased their vehicles bearing registration mark from outside the UT to apply for a new registration mark as per the provisions of Section 47/50 of Motor Vehicle Act 1988 and Rule 54 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 within a period of 15 days..The Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Kashmir defended the decision before the High Court stating that it was taken in a meeting convened by the Secretary to Government, Transport Department for ensuring screening of the vehicles which bear the non-local registration.The officer upon being pointedly asked as to whether any exercise was undertaken to meet the requirements of Sections 46, 47 and 50 of the Motor Vehicle Act, by the Transport Department, submitted that he had no records to that effect..The Court in an order passed on April 21 noted these aspects and stated that the RTO was not able to satisfactorily explain the origin of the circular or the authority to issue it. ."Since the officer was not in a position to satisfactorily demonstrate the origin of the impugned circular and his authority to issue it, the court feels it appropriate to ask the officer present to file his affidavit before the court by tomorrow indicating therein as to what necessitated the issuance of impugned circular and remain present in person along with records on the next date," the order passed on April 21 said. .The Court also said that the pendency of these petitions filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Irshad Hussain Munshi shall not stop the Transport Authorities to screen the vehicles with non-local registration mark for checking their veracity vis-a-vis the documents and the bonafide entry of the such vehicles into the territorial limits of J&K Union Territory.Such exercise, however, shall be undertaken by the officials of the Transport Department only, the Court added. .The matter was then heard at length the next day, i.e April 22 when the Court reserved its verdict. .Senior Advocate SF Qadri along with advocates Altaf Mehraj, Faisal Javid, Kacho Ali Khan appeared on behalf of the petitioners, whereas Deputy Advocate General H Amaan Ali appeared on behalf of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. .[Read April 21 Order]