The Hindu Business Line : Cab is taxi

WHAT IS a cab? On that the Mumbai tribunal heard Mahindra & Mahindra and the Commissioner of Central Excise, Nashik, and observed: "We find the matter is quite straightforward and the same can be decided today itself." But what was the matter?

The company claimed excise exemption available for vehicles "registered for use solely as taxi", but the tax officials denied the exemption for two vehicles that were described as motor cabs in the registration certificates. One was in the name of the proprietor of Adiga Travels, Bangalore, where the registration certificate (RC) said `M.Cab' though the permanent permit issued by the Karnataka State Transport Authority indicated that the vehicle is used as `Tourist Taxi'.

The other vehicle, registered with RTO, Tiruvallur (near Chennai), had its RC stating `Tourist Motor Cab', and the permit read `LMV Motor Cab' authorised to ply "on all roads in which taxis are allowed to ply".

What did the Tribunal say? It said, "Both the motor vehicles in question can be taken to have been registered for use solely as taxi," and added: "In any case, the word `cab' also means `taxi' as per Oxford Concise Dictionary." Well, there can no arguments on that. Before getting out of the cab, here is a dangerous quote of comedian and TV host Johnny Carson, "Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place."

Not so in our country, I guess!

D. Murali

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