The toll contractor SMYRLLP on Monday strongly opposed in the Supreme Court the direction issued on October 9 to collect environment compensation surcharge from commercial vehicles passing through Delhi from November 1. After a bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Amitav Roy had declined to modify the order, the contractor started collecting the surcharge from November 6.
Amicus curiae and senior counsel Harish Salve, on whose application the order was passed, informed the top court that under the terms of the contract, the contractor had an obligation to collect the surcharge and cannot make false statements in the court.
Senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for the contractor collecting toll tax from commercial vehicles passing through Delhi, submitted that the court ought not to have passed such an order without hearing the contractor’s objections. The counsel submitted that the contractor has no infrastructure to collect the surcharge and added the contractor was not responsible for Delhi pollution, so directing the firm to collect the surcharge in violation of the terms of contract was unjustified.
He said the fundamental principles of fairness required that the contractor ought to have been heard before any order was passed. When Chief Justice Dattu observed that the court had passed the order in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution (to do substantial justice), the counsel said even such a power can’t be exercised without hearing the parties concerned.
The CJI said “whether the contractor has an obligation or not under the contract to collect the surcharge, we will not modify our order. It (air pollution in Delhi) is disturbing us. Day in day out we see in newspapers the (issue of) air pollution in Delhi. People are afraid to come out of their homes. We will not touch our order.”
However, the counsel maintained that the order cannot be implemented and if the court insists on its implementation that the contractor is not willing to continue. “Please allow the contractor to withdraw and let the Delhi government appoint any other contractor,” he added.
SMYRLLP said 173 toll points at the border did not have infrastructure to collect the green tax as directed by the court. The contractor said it will cost about '4 crores to install the infrastructure required for collecting the levy. It wanted the company to be discharged from this liability as otherwise the firm will be legally liable to collect the tax without any quid pro quo.
On October 9, the apex court had has slapped an environment compensation surcharge on all light and heavy duty commercial vehicles and directed the toll agency to collect green tax of Rs 700 to Rs 1,300 from vehicles passing through Delhi and the tax collected would be handed over to the Delhi government for utilising the amount for making Delhi clean. The court had fixed the charges and said “Category 2 (light duty vehicles etc.) and Category 3 (2-axle trucks) Rs 700/- (ii) Category 4 (3-axle trucks) and Category 5 (4-axle trucks and above) Rs 1,300 will be charged.” Arguments will continue on November 27.
