Delhi HC dismisses PIL alleging theft of Environment Compensation Charge amount by toll contractor
Nov 24, 2022
New Delhi [India], November 24 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging that officials of the municipal corporation along with the previous and present toll tax contractor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (now MCD) have cheated and committed theft of the government exchequer to the tune of over Rs 5,000 crore.
The plea also sought direction to constitute a five-member committee to be headed by a retired judge of the court or the Supreme Court to find out the lapses and the irregularity committed by the Toll Tax contractor and the erring officials of the respondents regarding the theft of ECC amount and toll tax amount.
The Bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chander Sharma also comprising of Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that this is a private interest litigation. The bench also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner.
The plea alleged that the previous and present toll tax contractor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has indulged in serious theft of Environment Compensation Charge amount (ECC) and mismanagement of public funds in Delhi to the government agencies and the said funds are to be used for control of air pollution in Delhi protecting the environment.
Petitioner Jitender Singh, Director JMJ Buildcon Private Limited stated that the municipal corporation had awarded the Contract of Toll Tax Collection from the commercial vehicles entering Delhi to a private firm at an amount of Rs 1,206 crore per year. The contract duration was for a period of 5 years from 2017-2022.
Petitioner stated that his company JMJ later entered into a cooperation agreement with the said private firm in February 2019 for Delhi entry toll tax and ECC collection. Later, the JMJ team deployed in the field noted that the private firm which initially got the 5-year contract is allegedly involved in the theft of toll tax amount with the help of each other.
The plea alleged that the ECC collection is taking place in free lanes through handheld machines by a private company staff/toll contractor. The petitioner further submits that as per the terms and conditions of the agreement no ECC and Toll Tax collection can be collected from free lanes. Still, the same is being collected from the free lanes thus violating the terms and conditions of the contract and bypassing the orders of this Court, plea read.
The petitioner further submitted that the surveillance cameras are not properly installed in free lanes by SDMC and the Technical company to monitor the traffic through free lanes.
The petitioner further submitted that the petitioner gave a complaint to Commissioner, SDMC on August 28, 2020, but the Commissioner, SDMC took no action on the complaint against the culprits, the plea stated.
