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2020 DIGILAW 1486 (ALL)

Raj Kumar Singh v. State Of U. P.

2020-12-14

SURYA PRAKASH KESARWANI, YOGENDRA KUMAR SRIVASTAVA

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JUDGMENT : 1. Heard Sri B.D. Misra, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Mata Prasad, learned special standing counsel for the State-respondents. 2. This writ petition has been filed praying for the following relief: "(i) to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent no.3 to change the address of petitioner in his Registration Certificate of vehicle No.NL03 B1013 (Bus) and accept the due Road Tax with minimum penalty as per law." 3. Briefly stated facts of the present case are that the motor vehicle of the petitioner was registered by the Government of Nagaland and a certificate of registration dated 22.03.2013 had been issued by the Registering Authority, District Transport Office, Tuensang, Nagaland. Subsequently, the petitioner shifted to District Deoria in the State of U.P. and applied for a No Objection Certificate to the Registering Authority at Tuensang, Nagaland. 4. Upon the aforesaid application, the Registering Authority granted the No Objection Certificate in the prescribed form wherein the Registering Authority upon whom the No Objection Certificate was issued, was shown as “RA Gorakhpur”. On the basis of the aforementioned No Objection Certificate, the petitioner applied for recording a change in the residence in the certificate of registration of the motor vehicle before the Registering Authority at Deoria. The petitioner contends that the application submitted for change in residence accompanied by the No Objection Certificate issued to the Registering Authority at Gorakhpur is not being accepted by the Registering Authority at Deoria and for the said grievance, the present writ petition has been filed. 5. Learned standing counsel submits that No Objection Certificate having been issued to the Registering Authority at Gorakhpur, on the own application made by the petitioner before the Registering Authority at Tuensang, Nagaland, the said certificate is valid for use only before the Registering Authority on whom it is issued i.e. the Registering Authority at Gorakhpur, and for the said reason, unless the petitioner obtains a No Objection Certificate valid for use before the Registering Authority at Deoria, the application for change in residence cannot be accepted by the Registering Authority at Deoria. 6. In order to appreciate rival contentions, the relevant statutory provisions with regard to issuance of a No Objection Certificate under Section 48 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, may be referred to. 6. In order to appreciate rival contentions, the relevant statutory provisions with regard to issuance of a No Objection Certificate under Section 48 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, may be referred to. For ease of reference, Section 48 of the Act, 1988 is being extracted below: “48. No objection certificate.— (1) The owner of a motor vehicle when applying for the assignment of a new registration mark under sub-section (1) of section 47, or where the transfer of a motor vehicle is to be effected in a State other than the State of its registration, the transferor of such vehicle when reporting the transfer under sub-section (1) of section 50, shall make an application in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the registering authority by which the vehicle was registered for the issue of a certificate (hereafter in this section referred to as the no objection certificate), to the effect that the registering authority has no objection for assigning a new registration mark to the vehicle or, as the case may be, for entering the particulars of the transfer of ownership in the certificate of registration. (2) The registering authority shall, on receipt of an application under subsection (1), issue a receipt in such form as may be prescribed by the Central Government. (3) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the registering authority may, after making such inquiry and requiring the applicant to comply with such directions as it deems fit and within thirty days of the receipt thereof, by order in writing, communicate to the applicant that it has granted or refused to grant the no objection certificate: Provided that a registering authority shall not refuse to grant the no objection certificate unless it has recorded in writing the reasons for doing so and a copy of the same has been communicated to the applicant. (4) Where within a period of thirty days referred to in sub-section (3), the registering authority does not refuse to grant the no objection certificate or does not communicate the refusal to the applicant, the registering authority shall be deemed to have granted the no objection certificate. (4) Where within a period of thirty days referred to in sub-section (3), the registering authority does not refuse to grant the no objection certificate or does not communicate the refusal to the applicant, the registering authority shall be deemed to have granted the no objection certificate. (5) Before granting or refusing to grant the no objection certificate, the registering authority shall obtain a report in writing from the police that no case relating to the theft of the motor vehicle concerned has been reported or is pending, verify whether all the amounts due to Government including road tax in respect of that motor vehicle have been paid and take into account such other factors as may be prescribed by the Central Government. (6) The owner of the vehicle shall also inform at the earliest, in writing, the registering authority about the theft of his vehicle together with the name of the police station where the theft report was lodged, and the registering authority shall take into account such report while disposing of any application for no objection certification, registration, transfer of ownership or issue of duplicate registration certificate.” 7. The procedure for making an application for issue of No Objection certificate under Section 48 is prescribed under Rule 58 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 and as per terms thereof, the application is to be made in the prescribed Form-28. The application for recording change in residence in the certificate of registration of a motor vehicle is to be made in Form-33 as provided under Rule 59 of the Rules, 1989. For ready reference, the Rules 58 and 59 are reproduced below: “58. No objection certificate. -(1) An application for the issue of a no objection certificate under section 48 in respect of a motor vehicle shall be made in Form 28 to the registering authority by which the vehicle was previously registered, accompanied by (a) the certified copy of the certificate of registration; (b) the certified copy of the certificate of insurance; (c) evidence of payment of motor vehicle tax up-to-date; (d) where no tax is payable for a certain period a certificate from the tax collecting authority that no tax is due from the vehicle for the said period. (2) In the case of a transport vehicle, in addition to the documents referred to in sub-rule (1), documentary evidence in respect of the following matters shall also be furnished, namely: (a) that the vehicle is not covered by any permit issued by any transport authority; (b) that the sum of money agreed upon to be paid by the holder of the permit under sub-sections (5) and (6) of section 86, if any, is not pending recovery; (c) evidence of payment of tax on passengers and goods under any law for the time being in force up to the date of application for a no objection certificate. (3) On receipt of an application under sub-rule (1), the registering authority shall fill Part III of Form 28 and return that part to the applicant duly signed. (4) Where the registering authority grants or refuses to grant the no objection certificate, it shall return the duplicate copy of the said Form to the applicant and the triplicate copy to the other registering authority after duly filling and signing Part II thereof. 59. Change in residence.-An application for recording a change in the residence in the certificate of registration of a motor vehicle shall be made by the owner of the vehicle in Form 33 accompanied by the certificate of registration and proof of address in the manner specified in rule 4 and the appropriate fee as specified in rule 81.” 8. A conjoint reading of the aforementioned provisions indicates that an application by the owner of a motor vehicle for issuance of a No Objection Certificate under Section 48 is to be made in the prescribed Form-28. The office endorsement regarding grant or refusal of “No Objection Certificate” under Section 48 is to be made in Part-III of the prescribed Form-28 and the said endorsement of grant or refusal of No Objection Certificate is valid for use before the Registering Authority on whom it is issued. 9. In the instant case, upon the application submitted by the petitioner in Form-28 to the Registering Authority at Tuensang, Nagaland, the office endorsement made under Part-III of the prescribed Form-28 indicates that the No Objection Certificate was issued showing the Registering Authority, Gorakhpur as the authority on whom it was issued. 10. 9. In the instant case, upon the application submitted by the petitioner in Form-28 to the Registering Authority at Tuensang, Nagaland, the office endorsement made under Part-III of the prescribed Form-28 indicates that the No Objection Certificate was issued showing the Registering Authority, Gorakhpur as the authority on whom it was issued. 10. The No Objection Certificate having thus been issued on the Registering Authority at Gorakhpur, the same would be valid for use only before the Registering Authority mentioned in the endorsement made under Part-III of Form-28, i.e. the Registering Authority, Gorakhpur and as per the relevant Rules, the same cannot be held to be valid for use before any other Registering Authority. 11. Under the aforesaid circumstances, the petitioner may either apply for correction of the No Objection Certificate issued by the Registering Authority or make an application for issuance of a fresh registration certificate containing an endorsement showing that it is valid for use before the Registering Authority at Deoria, as per the statutory provisions referred to above. 12. With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition is dismissed.