Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on clubbed petition seeking quashing of Regional Transport Officer’s March 27 circular mandating the owners of the vehicles bought and brought here from outside of J&K to apply for new registration within a fortnight.
“Heard. Judgment is reserved,” said the division bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Vinod Chatterji Koul as per the local news agency GNS.
The court has already made it clear that pendency of case would not be an impediment for the Transport authorities to screen the vehicles with non-local registration numbers for checking their veracity vis-a-vis the documents and the bonafide entry into the territorial limits Jammu and Kashmir. However, the court has said that such exercise shall be undertaken by the officials of the Transport department only.
The RTO Kashmir had on Wednesday submitted that the decision to notify the circular was taken in a meeting convened by the Secretary to the Government, Transport department, for ensuring screening of the vehicles which bear non-local registrations.
The government has already filed reply to clubbed petitions which seek directions to quash RTO Kashmir’s circular dated March 27, mandating the vehicle owners who have purchased their vehicles bearing outside registration number to apply for a new registration as per the provisions of Section 47/50 of Motor Vehicle Act 1988 within a prescribed period of 15 days, failing which action as warranted shall be initiated against them.
