HC reprimands MCD for levying parking tax from an advocate

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today reprimanded the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for imposing parking tax on an advocate who had bought a new car last year and asked the authorities to return the money.

While imposing a cost of Rs 10,000 on the municipal authorities, Justice Ravinder Bhat quashed the corporation's decision as illegal and unjustified.

In his judgement, Justice Bhat asked the MCD to deposit the money with the legal services authority and asked the corporation to pay back Senior Counsel Ramesh Chandra Rs 4,000 which he paid as parking charges while buying a car in August, 2005.

The decision will have a wider ramification as it would have a bearing on the policy of the MCD to levy parking charges from the people who buy new vehicles.

Mr Chandra had filed the petition in August last year and sought direction to quash the levying of such tax from the public.

Although the amount was Rs 4,000, he was surprised how the MCD was charging the money without any authority. The MCD rules did not have the authority to levy such kind of charges, argued Mr Chandra.

According to him he never parked his car on the road during the night as his house had a garage.

As far as plying on the city roads was concerned, the government was charging road tax from the public.

The MCD could not give tangible justification before the court on the imposition of tax.

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