[1]Is a container loader, used to load and unload containers from trailers, a vehicle or just a piece of equipment? This is at the centre of a dispute between the Motor Vehicle department and the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited (KSIE), a holding company of the state Industries department.
It all started on Friday last when MVD officials noticed the Rs2 crore container loader being assembled near the Eloor container freight station. "The parts were brought in from Bengaluru in four trailers and assembled on the roadside near Eloor fire station. They failed to produce the sale letter, insurance, or other required papers," an MVD official said.
The MVD filed a chargesheet and asked KSIE to pay a tax of Rs25 lakh. "This is in the non-transport category," the official said. But the KSIE refuses to pay the tax citing that similar machines are being used by the Falcon, Cochin Port and ICT among others. "In all these centres, the machines are not registered and no tax is being paid as it is just equipment and won't come under the vehicle classification" KSIE general manager G. M. Josemon said.
Besides, the container loader has been brought exclusively for a government project, he added. "We assembled it at the roadside as work on our station ramp will be completed only in the next few days and the huge machine, which can easily lift 40 tonnes and has all rubber tyres (no tube), cannot be taken in parts," he said.
However, AMVI Vinod Kumar said they have issued the chargesheet on the basis of a High Court order which "states that machines with tyres running inside factory premises are also vehicles".
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