Giving no leeway to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), the Supreme Court on Friday rejected its request to defer the date for the start of imposition of Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) on all trucks and commercial vehicles passing through Delhi from November 1 to December 1.
The Bench of Chief Justice Hl Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy made it clear that the levy of the ECC has to start on Sunday. Both the Centre and the Delhi Government too said it should not be delayed any further.
The ECC of `700 and `1,300 has been fixed for commercial vehicles that use the city’s roads to cross over to Jaipur on their onward journey, conveniently avoiding the high toll along NH 71 and 71A. From Sunday, trucks and commercial vehicles entering Delhi will be charged the ECC besides the usual tax.
However, ambulances, tourist vehicles and Capital-bound trucks and vehicles carrying essential items and food stuff for the city have been exempted from the levy.
The SDMC had informed the SC that the toll collection agent responsible for collecting ECC had refused to implement the order unless the terms of his contract were revised. It demanded that till the issue was settled with the concessionaire, SMYR Consortium llP, the date of start of collection of ECC be deferred to December 1.
The Bench sought the view of the Centre and the Delhi Government on the application since both Governments had arrived at a decision to levy ECC after resolving all possible disputes. The two sides had agreed that in the interest of making Delhi’s air cleaner the drastic step will be taken to deter commercial vehicles from passing through Delhi.
Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar informed the SC that the previous order to implement ECC must be sustained at all costs. The same view was reiterated by Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, who said: “The contractor may have some difficulty but his grievance can be looked into at a later stage.” He was appearing for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which is also a party in the case.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who represented Delhi Government, said that the decision was worked out after consultation with all parties. As far as the objection raised by the toll contractor goes, he said, the annual contract contained a clause that he would be liable to install radio frequency tags at all entry points.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, who was the brain behind the ECC, was not present in court. But his junior associate Aparajita Singh informed the Bench, “This is an experiment. After three months when it will be monitored, the practical difficulties can be sorted out.”
The SDMC’s demand was drowned by the majority view, which finally got the attestation from the Bench. The court posted the matter for November 16 to hear the views of Salve.
Ends