user charges by transport society in Punjab:HC Notice on PIL: Chandigarh-October 9th-HC notice to Punjab Government, its Principal Secretary, Transport department, and the Punjab State Transport Society Ltd, Chandigarh-on collection of crores of rupees as user charges by said society from consumers, but not crediting said amount in Consolidated Fund of the State, and spending those amounts without any accountability to State Legislature: A division Bench of the HC comprising ACJ Ashutosh Mohanta and Justice Grewal today issued notices to Punjab Government, its Principal Secretary, Transport department, and the Punjab State Transport Society Ltd, Chandigarh- for 22.12.2014-on collection of crores of rupees as user charges by said society from consumers, but not crediting said amount in Consolidated Fund of the State, and spending those amounts without any accountability to State Legislature. In his PIL filed by Kawaljit Singh a taxi driver of Batala, it has been alleged that the State Transport Department notified the setting up of Punjab State Transport Society Ltd, Chandigarh-in the year-2011. This society is headed by Chief Secretary, as its Chairman. The society has its units in each district. Subsequently, the Transport department issued various notifications during 2011/2012 and 2014, prescribing user charges to be collected from various consumers/applicants for various services to be provided under the Motor Vehicles Act. In this manner, the society has collected a huge amount, without any accountability to Legislature, and these user charges have been levied by the State Government, in addition to the amount of fee being collected by the Transport department under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. For instance, such user charges are being collected by the society as under: S.No. Item User charges. 1. Learner’s Licence Rs. 80/- 2. Driving Licence Rs. 50/- 3. Driving test Rs. 50/- 4. New R.C. for two wheelers Rs. 100/- 5. New R.C. for four wheelers Rs. 200/- 6. New R.C. for Transport and Non-transport Vehicle. Rs. 200/- 7. Transfer of ownership of vehicle and allied work Rs. 200/- 8. Issue of Permits in respect of buses/mini buses and allied work thereof. Rs. 300/- 9. Issue of Permits in respect of Goods Vehicles. Rs. 150/- 10. Issue of Permits to Motor Cab/Maxi Cab and other allied work thereof. Rs. 100/- 11. Issue of Permits to Auto Rickshaws and allied work thereof. Rs. 100/- 12. Fitness certificate of vehicle Rs. 20/- 13. Tax Status Certificate Rs. 100/- 14. Vehicle Particulars verification Report. Rs. 50/- 15. For learning driving test. Rs. 50/- The petitioner has leveled a serious allegation that as per RTI information, upto 31.12.2012, this Society had collected Rs. 27,83,66,844.00 as gross receipts, against which an amount of Rs. 21,09,75,569.00 has been spent by it on various items and balance of Rs. 6,73,91,275.00 was left with the Society as on 31.12.2012. The Counsel for petitioner pleaded before the HC that under article 265 of Constitution of India, no taxes can be levied by the executive, without backing of any legislative provisions. Further, every fee collected by the Government has to be deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India. Thus, he argued that collection of such user charges, and spending those user charges at its will by the society is illegal and unconstitutional. (H.C.ARORA ADVOCATE COUNSEL FOR PETITIONER
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 08:27:22 +0000