IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.8543 of 2009 SATRUGHNA PRASAD YADAV, son of Sri Jamuna Rai, resident of village Intwarpur Pakari, PS Lalganj, District Vaishali Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR 2. The Secretary, Department of Transport, Government of Bihar, Nirman Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 3. The Transport Commissioner, Government of Bihar, Nirman Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 4. The District Transport Officer, Hajipur, At & PO, Hajipur ----------- 2 27-07-2009 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. The prayer made in this writ petition is to quash the notification dated 16-7-02 whereby road tax was allegedly increased abut four times on different kinds of vehicles although the increased rate was subsequently reduced in case of some bigger size of vehicles such as buses. According to the petitioner the rate of road tax applicable to a mini bus with sitting capacity of 22 seats was not reduced and, therefore, many similarly situated mini bus owners moved this court and their cases have been disposed of with various directions. Copies of some such judgements have been annexed with the writ petition as annexures- 7 and 8. Learned counsel for the petitioner prays to dispose of this writ petition in terms of earlier orders as contained in annexures- 7 and 8. Learned counsel for the State has submitted that those orders were related to motor vehicles having 114-167 inches wheel base but the wheel base of the petitioner’s vehicle is not clear either from the averments made in the writ petition or 2 from the owner book annexed thereto. After considering the submissions advanced on behalf of both the parties, the writ petition is disposed of in terms of judgement and orders contained in annexures 7 and 8. As a result the petitioner would be at liberty to file a representation and make appropriate prayer before the State Government within six weeks. If representation is filed by the petitioner within the aforesaid period the State Government shall consider the same in accordance with law within a period of six months. Till the decision on the representation is taken, the petitioner shall pay road tax at the rate of Rs. 267/- (rupees two hundred sixty seven) per seat per quarter without any penalty for the period 16-7-2002 to 17-4-2006. This benefit will be given to the petitioner provided he satisfies the authorities that the wheel base of his mini bus qualifies him also to be governed by similar orders contained in annexures 7 and 8. On payment of tax and additional tax as per rate indicated above tax token shall be issued to the petitioner. The writ petition is permitted to be withdrawn with the aforesaid liberty and directions. BKS/- (Shiva Kirti Singh, ACJ.) (Anjana Prakash, J.)