The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed a petition against the raised charges for the issuance of new Ajrak vehicle number plates in the province.
Petitioner Faizan Hussain challenged the enforcement of new vehicles number plates by replacing the old ones, and costing between Rs500 and Rs3,000. He said that the decision to replace current number plates with Ajrak number plates has caused significant inconvenience to the public.
Hussain said the government issued a notification with regard to replacing the old yellow number plates with new ones, and failure to comply with it would result in fines. He said the notification states that vehicles without the Ajrak number plates would also be impounded. However, citizens have already obtained the previous number plates after making due payments, he added.
He also said the government should provide the newly designed number plates free of charge, adding that there is no legal justification for penalising or impounding vehicles due to the absence of new plates.
His counsel said vehicles owners already possess number plates after paying the excise duty fees, so they should be provided the new number plates without any fees. He also said the number plate fee is an additional financial burden on citizens, adding that the court has all the powers to ensure that the powers conferred upon the state functionaries are exercised in accordance with the law.
He requested the court to not charge additional fees from citizens for the issuance of new number plates, and restrain the authorities from taking any coercive action against vehicles owners having old number plates.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry said the petitioner is aggrieved by the charges levied by the excise & taxation department for issuing new Ajrak-design vehicle number plates, which range from Rs500 to Rs3,000, depending upon the type of the vehicle.
The court said the public notice issued on December 17, 2024, clearly sets out the reasons for the fresh charges: the redesign of the number plates provides enhanced security features. The bench said the argument put forth has no legal basis, and dismissed the petition.
