
State
of M.P v Rakesh Sethi
CIVIL
APPEAL NO. 7074 OF 2008, decided on August 26, 2020
https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2008/25654/25654_2008_35_1501_23604_Judgement_26-Aug-2020.pdf
Bench: L.
Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat, JJ.
Facts:
The petitioner had
approached the High Court, contending that the said rule was ultra vires the
state’s power under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereafter “the Act”), and the
Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 (hereafter “the Central Rules”). The High
Court accepted his contentions and quashed Rule 55A of the Motor Vehicles
Rules, 1994 (hereafter “the State Rules”) framed by the Madhya
Pradesh State (hereafter “the state”).
Issues:
Whether Rule 55A of the
State Rules was ultra vires the provisions of the Act?
[Note: Rule 55A
empowers the registering authority to assign a specific registration mark, on demand
to the concerned person]
Held:
The Supreme Court setting
aside the impugned judgment and allowing the appeal said that the assignment of
“distinctive marks” i.e. registration numbers to motor vehicles (which includes
the power to reserve and allocate them, for a specific fee) is a distinct
service for which states or their authorities (such as the registering
authorities, in this case) are entitled to charge a prescribed fee. Rule 55A of
the MP Rules is not therefore, in excess of the powers conferred upon the
state, by the Act or the Central Rules.
The Supreme Court held
that the reasoning of the High Court that the field of prescribing the fee for
an application for registration has been exclusively conferred upon the Union
Government, thus excluding from its sweep any State power to claim any manner
of fee or amount as part of that task, is flawed. The Supreme Court said that the
assignment of numbers by the registering authority, as seen earlier, through an
official/agency or department notified by the State Government, cannot be seen
as a mere step – albeit at the fag-end of the registration allotment process.
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