The issue of registering luxury cars in Puducherry by people residing in other States using fictitious address for evading tax,has snowballed into a major controversy with Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi ordering a probe into the matter. She has also decided to write to the Centre on the issue.

Though registration of vehicles owned by non-resident Puducherrians here was in vogue for decades, the issue became a controversy after Kerala state Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had travelled in an open luxury car owned by a controversial businessman during his Janajagratha Yatra at Koduvally in that State. The luxury Mini Cooper was later found to be registered in Puducherry and subsequent inquiries by media in Kerala revealed similar registration of luxury cars here by popular Malayalam actors Amala Paul and Fahad Fazil using fake addresses.

Actor turned BJP member in Rajya Sabha Suresh Gopi had also registered his luxury car in Puducherry, sources added.

Inquiries with Transport Department revealed that several prominent film actors and businessmen from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, prior to GST, had used the low tax structure in Puducherry to get their luxury vehicles registered here. The Transport Department had fixed one per cent as registration fee for luxury cars in Puducherry.

The Motor Vehicle Rules had a provision to register vehicles by providing proof of temporary residence. Utilising the opportunity, buyers of high end cars from other States registered their vehicle by providing their LIC policy as a temporary residential proof and availed the concessional Life Time Road Tax.

While Amala Paul had registered her Rs. 1. 12 crore worth car using an Identity Card and LIC Bond addressed in Puducherry by paying a fee of Rs. 1.12 lakh, Fahad had registered his Rs. 70 lakh worth vehicle by remitting a similar amount.

‘Fraudulent methods’

After the reports became public, Ms. Bedi, had immediately ordered a probe and while addressing a press conference on Monday said both film personalities had adopted fraudulent methods to register their vehicles.

On Tuesday, after making a surprise inspection at the Transport Department, Ms. Bedi issued a statement saying the practice of registering luxury cars in the UT “is nothing but organised legal fraud.”

“I will be writing to Central Government . The government should know how we are generating resources. Till Aadhaar card is made essential for such registrations the rich will keep stealing road tax of their own States,” she said.

Both the actors if were to register the vehicles in their home State, would have paid around Rs. 14 lakh, she said.

Police sources said, they have launched a preliminary investigation into the matter.