Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: The Regional Transport Office (RTO) has started a drive against vehicles registered outside the state. So far, the RTO has penalised 30 vehicles and has collected penalty of Rs 77,000.

According to Odisha Motor Vehicles Rules, the owner of any vehicle, which is not registered in the state and has been kept in Odisha for a period exceeding 30 days, has to inform the registering authority of the state and pay tax for the vehicle.

Regional transport officer of Bhubaneswar Lal Mohan Sethy said that vehicles from outside the state required a no-objection certificate (NOC) and had to deposit the tax on the vehicles with the RTOs concerned. “Most of the vehicles purchased and acquired from other states often do not pay tax according to Orissa Motor Vehicles Taxation Act. We will continue to crackdown on these vehicles,” added Sethy.

According to rules, the maximum penalty for this can be 200-per cent of the actual tax, which is calculated taking into account various parameters, including the date of registration of the vehicle and type of vehicle. The RTO officials said that a number of motor vehicles were plying in the city without the NOC.

While the RTO officials check the NOC to verify whether the vehicle has crossed 30-day limit, for vehicles without NOC, the officials check fuel bills and bills of services. Officials in the RTO said that according to the rules, the owner needed to pay tax in Odisha for the new vehicle procured from outside, irrespective of the tax paid in the parent state.

The officials also said that vehicles from outside the state that remained in Odisha for more than 12 months needed to change their registration number. Most of the time, corporate employees on transfer or deputation and long-staying tourists flouted these norms. However, vehicle owners expressed their anguish over the drive. “The authorities should have first conducted an awareness drive and later cracked down on the vehicles,” said Subhashish Kanungo, a vehicle owner having registration from Karnataka.

RTO officials said that around 20 vehicle owners had deposited the tax on their own vehicles after the drive.