Who can seize a vehicle for unpaid tax, and the ceiling on raising that tax in Kerala

Background

Kerala plans an Approved Vehicle Seizure Yard in every taluk, so that vehicles held for unpaid motor vehicle tax have somewhere to be kept; the Transport Minister has put a Bill to that effect before the Assembly. The parent law is the Kerala Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1976, which is Act 19 of 1976, and it pulled together the rules on taxing vehicles and the passengers and goods they carry. Tax at the rate the Schedule lays down falls on every motor vehicle used in the State or kept there for use. A vehicle a dealer or a manufacturer holds for trade, and runs under a trade certificate, stays outside the charge. New vehicles of some classes pay a one time tax when they are first registered. The Government may push up the Schedule rates by notification, but the increase must not add up to more than fifty per cent of the rate. A fleet owner, as the Act defines the term, is a person, an institution or the Government holding the registration of more than one hundred and fifty transport vehicles that are used in the State or kept there for use. The Regional Transport Officer, or any other officer the Government appoints, acts as the Taxation Officer. Seizure is narrower: a vehicle may be seized and held only by an officer of at least Assistant Motor Vehicles Inspector rank whom the Government has authorised for it, or by a police officer of at least Sub-Inspector rank, and only where he has reason to believe the vehicle is used in the State, or kept there for use, with the tax unpaid.