Vishant Nagvekar
For most people, a car is a display of their aspirations and success. But for me, it’s a lifeline. I have 75% disability in both lower limbs. Getting from home to the bus stop or a taxi stand is a near impossibility. In any case, in the absence of accessible public transport I need a motor vehicle to commute to office. For a person with disability, a private vehicle is a necessity.
After a brief search, in September 2017, I found out that Maruti was manufacturing affordable cars with automatic transmission. Being a disability rights activist, I was aware that, there are two types of concessions on purchase of car for the persons with disabilities-
(1) Total Exemption of Road Tax
(2) Concession in GST and Compensation Cess.
In order to avail Concession in GST and Compensation Cess, the major requirements were :
(1) Affidavit declaring that this GST concession has not been availed for last five years and that the buyer shall avail it again in next five years. Additionally, the affidavit must declare that the car shall not be disposed in next five years
(2) Certificate from the Directorate of Heavy Industries, New Delhi.
The documents required by the Directorate of Heavy Industries, New Delhi are:
1. Certificate from Medical Superintendent in prescribed format
2. Certificate from RTO in case of retrofitting or Certificate from the Manufacturer saying that the car was fit to be driven by the Person with Disabilities
3. Declaration etc.
Enthused by the prospect of a new car, I approached the Goa Medical College, Bambolim (GMC), for the certificate in format prescribed by the Heavy Industries. That experience in the hospital was humiliating and frustrating. GMC demanded that I display my disabled body in a photograph. That meant I had to strip down and get photographed for the purpose. I submitted my forms and few days later went to inquire again. My application couldn’t be found. After hours of pushing, cajoling and pushing further, the clerk then began a search and found my application in an old dusty file hidden in some corner of her untidy desk. There was no apology and worse, GMC did not issue me my medical certificate.
I then approached District Hospital, Mapuca, North Goa. Thankfully, the certificate was issued on the same day of the visit here.
Simultaneously, I also wrote an email to Maruti India Ltd., asking for manufactures certificate as mandated by the Directorate of Heavy Industries, New Delhi, in its old guidelines. However, the application was rejected by the Maruti Company stating that their car with Automatic Transmission was only suitable for persons having only left leg disability and the car in the present form is not suitable for me since I have disability in both the legs.
Despite several emails by me and separately from Monika, my fellow activist from iDare, Goa, Maruti refuses to acknowledge this circular form Ministry of Finance.
The circular clearly states -
“This condition does not require or state that the particular car should be specially designed or manufactured for use by the physically handicapped persons. In fact, the whole emphasis appears to be more on the end-user rather than the nature of the product itself. Therefore, so long as the car has some special features and an officer, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, clarifies that the particular car is capable of being used by a handicapped person, concession cannot be denied.”
Further on, the officials at Transport Department displayed even lesser understanding of issues. I made an application mentioning the make and model of the car and submitted it to the Assistant Director Transport (North), requesting for Certificate in Annexure “ G (old guidelines). But they rejected it orally, saying that they needed to inspect the car before issuing the certificate since the car would be retrofitted.
It was a strange chicken-and-egg situation. The new guidelines required me to get a certificate from the RTO for a car I wanted to purchase and retrofit. And here the RTO demanded to see the car that I had not purchased yet. Nearly six months after embarking on this “car purchase” adventure, frustrated and desperately in need of a transport, I purchased it without any concession in March 2018.
Getting delivery of the car was another ordeal. The car needed to be retrofitted, but that couldn’t be done unless the car was registered and driven to a specific workshop for fitting. Even so, I managed to get a mechanic to fit the hand controls at the Maruti dealers office itself.
Now I was a proud owner of a new car, ut the ordeal was far from over. I embarked on a GST refund journey which was no less torturous than the earlier one. I submitted an application along with the requisite documents to the Directorate of Heavy Industries, New Delhi, with a request to issue GST Concession Certificate and the same was issued in less than a month. I then filed a refund claim with all the authorities mentioned below. Since the procedure or authority with which the GST refund claim should be filed has not been defined in GST notification or by the Directorate of Heavy Industries, New Delhi, I chose to submit to all possible GST authorities.
However, the O/o of the Commercial Taxes, Panaji Goa and the O/o the Dy. Commissioner CGST, Panaji Goa rejected my GST refund claim. The reasons they gave were flimsy and clearly in violation of the concession offered to PwDs. They said - (1) that the car is not specially designed (2) The dealer should have modified it (3) Car is not supplied to the person with disability (4) concession should have been availed while purchasing the car.
Aggrieved, I filed an online petition on CPGRAMS, which then responded requesting CGST, Goa Branch to guide me to approach the car dealer for a refund claim. I then got another jolt when the same was rejected by the Car dealer. The dealer claimed that I should have informed them before the purchase of the car. Also, they repeated their old song that their cars are suitable only for a person with left leg disability.
I was then even more determined to get what was rightfully mine. On November 9, 2018, I filed an appeal before the Commissioner Appeals CGST and Customs, Goa. The order was passed by the Commissioner Appeals directing me to file a refund claim in GST RFD 01 form.
Refund application in GST RDF 01 was submitted by me in March 2019 along with required documents to Assistant Commissioner CGST, Division II, Patto, Panaji Goa. And in April 2019 a payment advice was issued to me! Though the 60% of refund amount has still not been deposited in my account. Judging from my experience, there’s a lot in rules that need to be rectified in such cases. NGOs like iDare intend to take up the matter with various authorities.
