Public-place requirement for motor vehicle tax excludes vehicles used exclusively within guarded, restricted industrial premises.

Motor vehicle tax arises only where a vehicle is used or kept for use in a public place. A public place requires a right of public access; a steel plant's guarded central dispatch yard, inaccessible without authorisation, does not meet that requirement. Rule 12A of the Andhra Pradesh Motor Vehicles Taxation Rules cannot expand the charging provision by imposing tax on vehicles confined to non-public premises merely because no stoppage intimation was filed. Accordingly, vehicles exclusively used or kept within such restricted premises are not liable to motor vehicle tax for that period.

---

---

Issues: Whether motor vehicles used exclusively within the restricted central dispatch yard of a steel plant were used or kept for use in a public place and were consequently liable to motor vehicle tax.

Analysis: Section 3(1) makes use or intended use in a public place the taxable event. A public place under Section 2(34) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 requires a right of public access. The restricted premises, controlled through guarded entry and inaccessible to the public without authorization, did not satisfy that requirement. Rule 12A of the Andhra Pradesh Motor Vehicles Taxation Rules, 1963 operates for giving effect to Section 3 and could not enlarge the charging provision by treating vehicles confined to a non-public place as liable to tax merely because no stoppage intimation was furnished. The requirement of such intimation was inapplicable where the vehicles were not used or kept for use in a public place.

Conclusion: The vehicles were not liable to motor vehicle tax for the period during which they were exclusively used or kept within the restricted premises; this issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

---