A day after the Punjab and Haryana high court restrained toll tax collection on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway for the next 15 days, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which is mandated to collect toll tax from commercial vehicles has decided to approach the Supreme Court. Claiming that this will incur them loses running into crores of rupees, the MCD is hoping to get relief from the apex court.
The MCD officials say that the concessionaire Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL) is bound by the law and by a legal contract to collect toll tax from the commercial vehicles on behalf of MCD. However, the stoppage in collection-officials say- will affect the financial health of MCD badly as approximately `20 lakh is collected from this toll booth every day.
An emergency meeting comprising senior officials in the MCD and Delhi government met on Wednesday and decided to approach the Supreme Court on Thursday to get relief. “The collection of toll tax from commercial vehicles is mandated under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. There is also a judgment of the Apex court which calls for collection of toll tax from these vehicles. We have got to know that the concessionaire has stopped collecting tax even from the commercial vehicles from today. The situation which has emerged now will result in losing cores of rupees as revenue,” said a senior official.
While, the MCD has written to the DSCL demanding that toll tax is collected as per the law, the corporation is also considering to initiate contempt proceedings against the concessionaire in the Delhi high court. The recent order suspending toll tax collection came after the DSCL failed to comply with its order of finding a solution to the problem of congestion on the toll plaza.
The court had on August 16 asked the company to put additional collection windows and deploy personnel with hand held collection machines for smooth traffic movement.