Ahmedabad: No provision in law to prevent parking fees, malls tell court

In a long-drawn litigation between the state, civic body, and the malls in the city over parking fees, the latter in an affidavit filed on Wednesday, said that there are no provisions in law that prevents them from charging parking fees.

The affidavit was filed before the division bench of Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav in response to a reply by the AMC and state government in the matter.

The affidavit submitted by the malls said that there are no provisions under the Comprehensive General Development Control Regulations (GDCR), 2017, which prohibits them from charging parking facilitation fees.

It further stated that the provisions do not even mandate providing free parking to people visiting the mall.

"There is no provision in the GDCR or the BMPC Act or any by-law which enjoins the owner or occupier of malls having adequate parking places to extend free enjoyment of these parking places," the affidavit said.

It further argued that the mall being a private property has a right to restrict its use by visitors.

"Nobody has the fundamental right to use the property belonging to another without his/her permission or paying for it," the affidavit stated.

It also argued that even the AMC and other public bodies charge people for parking vehicles in public places such as Kankaria lake, CG Road, SG Road, Ahmedabad Railway Stations, bus stands, airports, etc.

The malls further argued that they had provided adequate parking space within its premises and there has been no violation of the GDCR provisions.