PIL alleges octroi evasion racket at Thane-Mumbai RTO

The Bombay High Court today asked Maharashtra Government, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Regional Transport Office and others to respond to a public interest litigation which alleges evasion of octroi to the tune of crores of rupees by owners of 725 vehicles in connivance with officials.
The division bench headed by Justice P V Hardas asked all the respondents to file affidavits within three weeks.
The PIL alleges that Autobahn Enterprises registered 725 vehicles in 2011-12 and 2012-13 with Thane RTO using bogus documents given by car owners, which showed them to be Thane residents though they were actually residents of Mumbai.

This was done to evade octroi and other taxes which are higher in Mumbai, the PIL says, seeking registration of FIR against those involved.
Activist Sudhir Barge, the petitioner, alleges that among the 725 vehicles in question, Autobahn Enterprises itself had purchased 18 in the name of its MD, Harshil Chokshey, by providing bogus documents to the RTO, and the RTO officials were involved in this racket.
However, advocate Diwakar Singh, Autobahn's lawyer, denied the allegations in the court today and said its former agent Amit Kadam was behind the fraud. After the fraud came to light, the company complained to police and Kadam was arrested. He was no more its agent, Singh said.

Further, the lawyer alleged that the PIL had been filed at Kadam's behest, and Barge had no locus standi (right to be involved) in the matter and hence the PIL be dismissed.
The Judges asked advocate Singh to file an affidavit too.
Prosecutor Aruna Pai said the RTO was looking into the complaint and a case would be registered if fraud was established.