Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has expressed its concern about the suspension of Vahan portal.
The Chamber in a statement said FCIK has an affiliate member Kashmir Chamber of Automobile Industry & commerce (KCAI&C) which are into Sale & Service of Automobiles in Kashmir Valley are “in panic after blocking of their online Vahan Portal.”
In the statement, Ovees Qadir Jamie, FCIK Secretary General said that KCAI&I has to operate the online VAHAN Portal for Proceeding the Registration of vehicles, but yesterday the all Automobile Dealers have been blocked because they need to submit the Security Deposit / Bank Guarantee. The surety fee / Bank Guarantee has no Provision in the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 nor its prevalent/ Applicable in other parts of the country.
“This blocking of Vahan Portal decision has come up all of sudden without taking the stake holders in consideration. Today all the dealerships have remained standstill and cannot operate Sale & registration of vehicles in Vahan,” the statement quoted him. “Further, the multiple factors which are hitting the Automobile sector in J&K is the Sluggish Demand, High Vehicle Registration Cost, BS VI Transition, Letter of Authority (Permits) & Lockdown. The Jammu & Kashmir government has passed the order last year by raising the registration amount of the automobiles to 9% of the cost of vehicle, which is highest in the country. It is an irony that the vehicle which include already the GST amount has been over upon again taxed by the registration of 9% on total cost.”
FCIK demanded that the order related to Security deposit should be kept in abeyance as Automobile sector is going through tough times.