Courts for impounded vehicles will be established in each taluk: Minister

Transport Minister CP John presented the Motor Vehicle Taxation (Amendment) Bill 2026 to the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill contains provisions for the establishment of special approved vehicle depots in each taluk for the storage of vehicles impounded for non-payment of tax in the State. The Minister stated that the new amendment aims to solve the problem of insufficient space for the storage of detained vehicles.

Under Section 11 of the 1976 Act, officers of the Motor Vehicles Department (of the rank of Assistant Inspector of Motor Vehicles or above) and police officers (of the rank of Sub-Inspector or above) currently have the power to impound vehicles used or held for use in the State without payment of tax.

However, government land with adequate facilities for storing such impounded vehicles was not available, which hindered the effective implementation of existing legal provisions. The minister explained that the government has decided to set up authorized shipyards in every taluk to solve this crisis.

According to the new law, the owners will be charged fees for transporting the seized vehicle to these yards and parking fees for its storage. Even if proof of tax payment is presented, the vehicle will only be released after full payment of these fees. The fee rates will be determined by the government later. The introduction of the new system will not mean any additional financial obligations for the government. After rejecting a “procedural objection” raised by opposition legislator Premkumar, the bill was referred to a substantive committee for consideration.

During the discussion on the bill, Mr. John informed the assembly that the KSRTC, which was facing a severe financial crisis, was slowly recovering from the crisis. Although the corporation is not fully profitable, the minister said it is reaching a stage where it can pay off outstanding liabilities and debts.

In the last decade, KSRTC has managed to add only 1300 buses to its fleet. The company recently received a donation of 70 buses when the government sought the help of MLAs to avoid the massive financial burden of purchasing vehicles. The current goal is to deploy more vehicles while minimizing the financial burden associated with the purchase of new buses. Besides, more buses are being introduced through lease agreements with private carriers, he said.

In preparation for the upcoming Sabarimala season, 100 older buses have been completely refurbished and made ready to run along with the new fleet, he informed.

The minister further informed that the frequent non-functionality of the central government’s online system for vehicle-related services causes considerable inconvenience to the public. The problem was brought to the attention of the Union Minister for Surface Transport immediately after the UDF government took office. Although the center has ensured that the situation is resolved within five to 10 days, the site continues to experience outages during the day. The matter was also raised when a delegation led by the Chief Minister visited Delhi, he said.

Published – 14 October 2026 23:50 IST