Rajasthan High Court Upholds Sleeper Bus as Separate Tax Category

The Rajasthan High Court rejected a plea challenging the 2021 amendment that introduced “sleeper buses” as a separate taxable category.

A division bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur and Justice Anuroop Singhi held that buses fall under definitions in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the State has the competence to further categorise them by body type under the Rajasthan Motor Vehicles Rules, 1990, for tax purposes.

The Court clarified that the amendment only specified tax rates, not a new vehicle class. Upholding differential tax rates and exemptions, it ruled the policy was based on intelligible differentia and served public interest.

[Khuman Singh v State of Rajasthan & Ors]