SHC restrains cantonment boards from collecting parking fees

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has retrained the cantonment boards of Karachi or any authority thereunder from collecting parking fees in their respective jurisdictions till further orders.

The interim order came on a petition of Atta Mohammad who challenged the imposition of parking fees directly or indirectly by the cantonment boards in

the city.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the Cantonment Board Clifton had issued an advertisement for issuance of award in pursuance of parking fees. He submitted that in a case pertaining to the Hyderabad cantonment board, the Supreme Court had held that there existed no provision in the Cantonment Board Act 1924 that empowered the boards to charge parking fees, and hence imposing such fees was without lawful authority.

The counsel submitted that the apex court had held that the parking fee was not referred to in the Section 200 of the Cantonment Board Act and so the cantonment boards had no authority to enlarge the scope of the charging section and include conjectures that were not envisioned in the charging section.

The SHC was informed that in violation of the apex court orders, the cantonment boards had been awarding contracts for collecting parking fees, which was unlawful. The high court was requested to declare the imposition of parking fees and its recovery directly or indirectly by the cantonment boards to be unlawful and restrain the cantonment boards and their contractors from demanding parking fee from any person.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui observed that the Cantonment Board Clifton was supposed to perform its functions under the Act but the counsel for the board was unable to assist the court as to under which law, the said advertisement had been published for awarding contracts to claim parking fees. The SHC restrained the cantonment boards or any authority under them from claiming parking fees till further orders. The high court directed the Cantonment Board Clifton to file comments on the petition on the next hearing.