RTA rules for rich vary; 11 seized supercars released in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) appears to have adopted a double standard when it comes to dealing with violations by the super-rich and the common people. After seizing 11 extremely expensive supercars a day ago, the RTA authorities said they had allowed the owners to take their vehicles back because they were worried about their safety. However, when it comes to the common man, the seized vehicles are not released unless all formalities are done including payment of tax dues and penalties.

A day after seizing 11 cars for non-payment of registration tax in the state, the RTA authorities on Monday said they had released all seized vehicles to their owners. According to deputy transport commissioner Papa Rao, “The drivers of the cars said they were worried that rats and bandicoots at the government yards where such seized vehicles were kept could cause damages to the expensive vehicles. Once we received an undertaking from them in writing that they would pay the taxes and associated penalties, we released the cars.” Each car, he said, cost anywhere from `3 crore and `6 crore.

Typically, vehicles seized by the RTA officials for various violations are kept until the owners pay taxes or dues and complete other formalities at RTA offices, nearest police stations, or sometimes, even in RTC bus depots, a transport department official said, adding that unless all dues were cleared, vehicles were not released back to the owners.

Incidentally, according to a top RTA official, all the 11 seized cars were driven by drivers employed by owners of the cars at the time of their seizure on Sunday between the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and the airport hotel. The transport department officials further said they were still trying to ascertain the ownership of the vehicles.

The cars, Papa Rao said, were not registered in Telangana as required by the law, but had registrations from other states.

He said “There are almost hundreds of such super-cars in the city, which are moving without proper registration. We urge all such car owners to pay road taxes and register their vehicles.”