Levy of Additional Fee under Central Motor Vehicles Rules is Ultravires: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

The division bench of the Madras High Court has struck down a notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, imposing additional fee in the nature of a fine or penalty over and above the prescribed fee.

A bench comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice Anitha Sumanth declared that the notification amending Rule 32 and Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, to the extent of imposition of additional fee, is void, as it was issued without authority.

The decision was delivered by the Court while considering a writ petition filed by various drivers and driving school associations, who challenged the above notification imposing additional fee in the nature of fine. Though initially, they had challenged the notification in entirety, later they restricted the prayer to the levy of additional fees alone.

Allowing the petition, the bench said that section 211 of the Motor Vehicles Act contemplates only levy of a fee in return for services rendered by the authorities and the levy over and above the fee is without authority of law.

“We fail to see any justification for the levy of an additional fee in the nature of the penalty when there is no change in the nature of service rendered by the authority under the Act particularly in the absence of any statutory backing for the same.”

“The service rendered by the authorities u/s 211 of the Act will remain the same irrespective of the period of delay in compliance of the statutory provisions by the petitioners and there is thus no justification for the levy of a penalty over and above the levy of the fee itself,” the bench added.

Read the full text of the Judgment below.

taxscan-loader