Puducherry: LIC policy taken with a fake address is one of the widely used documents by outsiders to register vehicles in Puducherry and evade high road taxes elsewhere. There are gangs operating out of RTO officers to arrange forged documents.
The brokers here also have specialization, said an agent at the main RTO office near the Indira Gandhi statue. Their names are often associated with the brands that they deal in, such as Jaguar Shelvam, Porsche Senthil and Audi Anil (not the real names).
Dealers from outside Puducherry usually contact these local agents. Their packages include a local address along with an LIC policy to support it, as well as notary verification of the buyer’s residency status. Commissions range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh, based on the vehicle price.
There have been instances of several people using the same address to register their cars, officials from Kerala who are here to investigate the matter have found. Detailed investigation has started Tuesday.
Notices will be send to those who were found to have registered their cars on fake addresses. Such people have an option to take an NOC from Puducherry and register their vehicles anew in Kerala, though they will have to pay the entire road tax.
The investigation team from Kerala comprises State Transport Authority assistant secretary PS Santhosh, joint RTO Byju James, and Motor Vehicle Inspectors Vinod Kumar and George. They will also submit a report to the government on steps to prevent tax evasion.
Modus operandi
A notary certificate is first arranged to show that the buyer is a temporary resident of Puducherry. Next is to get an LIC policy with a fake address.
Some people rent a room for as much as six months to arrange a local address. A prominent actress was found have done this, police officials said.
In some cases, the actual residents don’t even realize that their addresses were used for registering cars.
Though this leads to a tax loss for other states, it benefits Puducherry. Last year’s tax revenue for the Union Territory was Rs 86.8 crore. It is Rs 65 crore so far this year.
No scam, claims minister
The registration process takes place legally, said Puducherry transport minister Shahjahan. He also doesn’t see anything wrong in a prominent actress registering her car in the territory. This registration was done in last August. The car can be re-registered in Kerala within a year. It is not right to allege tax evasion before that, he said. Meanwhile, lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi has accused Shahjahan of being a car dealer himself. Bedi has instructed local officials to amend rules so as to ensure that only permanent residents register vehicles in Puducherry.
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