Motor vehicle tax applies to road-adapted dumpers, loaders, cranes and a maintenance van under the statutory definition.

A vehicle is a motor vehicle if it is adapted for use on the road, and the decisive factors include size, dimensions, weight, nature of use and mobility. Regular road use is not required where the vehicle is capable of being used on the road when needed. The exclusion applies only to special type vehicles adapted for use solely in a factory or other enclosed premises. Applying the binding Division Bench ruling, the HC treated dumpers, loaders and escort cranes as motor vehicles, and found no basis to distinguish the maintenance van; all were therefore liable to motor vehicle tax.

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Issues: Whether the dumpers, loaders, escort cranes and maintenance van were motor vehicles within the meaning of the Motor Vehicles Act and therefore liable to motor vehicle tax.

Analysis: The Court applied the settled test that a vehicle is a motor vehicle if it is adapted for use on the road. Relevant considerations include size, dimensions, weight, nature of use and mobility. Regular road use is not necessary if the vehicle is capable of being used on road when required. The exclusion applies only to special type vehicles adapted for use only in a factory or other enclosed premises. The Court followed the binding Division Bench ruling which had already held dumpers, loaders and escort cranes to be motor vehicles, and found no basis to treat the maintenance van differently.

Conclusion: The vehicles in question were held to be motor vehicles and were subject to motor vehicle tax. The petition was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A vehicle is a motor vehicle if it is adapted for use on road, and it falls outside the definition only when it is a special type vehicle adapted for use only in a factory or other enclosed premises.

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