The Kerala High Court has held that transport authorities cannot refuse to process applications relating to vehicle registration, merely because traffic challans issued before October 1, 2020, remain unpaid. [TN Kumar v Ministry of Road Transport and Highways & ors]
Justice Murali Purushothaman held that Rule 167(7) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (Rules) as amended , which restricts certain vehicle-related services when traffic challans remain unpaid, cannot be applied to violations that occurred before the provision came into force.
The Court explained that the rule introduced a restriction that did not previously exist and could therefore operate only from the date it came into force.
It clarified that unless the law clearly provided otherwise, a new restriction could not be imposed on the basis of challans issued before the rule was introduced.
"Rule 167(7) being substantive law, operates prospectively as retrospectivity is not clearly made out by its language. Therefore, in the absence of a clear legislative intention to confer retrospective effect on Rule 167(7), the provision cannot be invoked to interdict the processing of applications for registration of motor vehicles merely on the ground that challans issued prior to 01.10.2020 remain pending against the applicants," the Court added.
The judgment came on a petition filed by TN Arun Kumar, who had purchased a car in 2015 through a loan from Bank of Baroda.
After repaying the loan, Kumar approached the Regional Transport Office at Ernakulam to remove the bank's hypothecation entry from the vehicle's registration certificate.
However, he was informed that his vehicle had been blacklisted because certain traffic challans were unpaid for more than 90 days.
Aggrieved, Kumar approached the Court, submitting that he had already paid the fines relating to challans issued after October 1, 2020, while the unpaid challans were related to speeding violations between 2015 and 2019, before Rule 167(7) of the Rules came into force.
The Court examined Rule 167, which was introduced through the Central Motor Vehicles (Eleventh Amendment) Rules, 2020 and came into force on October 1, 2020.
Under Rule 167(7), authorities cannot process certain applications relating to driving licences or vehicle registration if challans remain unpaid beyond 90 days.
Before the amended rule was introduced, pending challans did not automatically prevent authorities from processing vehicle registration applications.
Hence, the Court directed the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) at Ernakulam to process the vehicle owner's application to remove the hypothecation entry from his registration certificate, without considering unpaid challans issued before October 1, 2020.
Advocates Vipin Narayan and Ashwanth Padman represented the petitioner.
Government pleader Sarath appeared for the RTO.
Central government counsel Amal Parthasaradhy appeared for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.
[Read Judgment]