PIL in Delhi HC against toll tax contractors of MCD, alleges theft of ECC amount
Sep 20, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 20 : A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court seeking indulgence and intervention of the Court alleging the 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 to the Government exchequer to the tune of over Rs 5,000 crore.
Plea seeks issuance of direction to constitute a five members committee headed by a retired judge of this Court or the Supreme Court of India 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 plea also alleges that the previous and present toll tax contractor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation have 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 states 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 INR 1206 Crore per year. The contract duration was for a period of 5 years from 2017-2022.
Petitioner states 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 JMJ team which deployed in the field noted that the private firm which initially got the 5 years contract is allegedly involved in the theft of toll tax amounts 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 but the same are being collected from the free lanes thus violating the terms and conditions of the contract and by-passing the orders of this Court, plea read.
The petitioner further submits that the surveillance cameras are not installed correctly in free lanes by SDMC and the Technical company to monitor the traffic through free lanes.
The petitioner further submits that the petitioner gave a complaint to Commissioner, SDMC on 28.08. 2020 but the Commissioner, SDMC took no action on the complaint against the culprits, plea states.
