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Under what powers do you charge parking fee, Gujarat High Court asks malls

The court had also ordered the state government to frame parking policy, if it wishes to control the parking charges levied by malls

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The Gujarat High Court on Monday questioned the powers based on which malls, multiplexes, and similarly situated commercial establishments, levy parking fee on visitors.

The question was raised by the division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav during the hearing of a petition filed by Ruchi Malls Private Limited challenging the recent verdict of a single judge bench of the court. In its judgment, the single judge bench of justice Bela Trivedi had directed the commercial establishments to provide free parking to visitors for an hour and cap the daily maximum parking charges to Rs 10 and Rs 30 for two-and-four-wheelers, respectively.

The court had also ordered the state government to frame parking policy, if it wishes to control the parking charges levied by malls.

The division bench during the hearing of the matter asked the petitioner to show the rules and regulations based on which it is charging money from visitors for providing parking facility. While the court wanted to settle the issue on Monday, the counsel for the petitioner sought time after which further hearing has been scheduled Tuesday.

Interestingly, the state government has contended before the single judge bench as well as the division bench that it is the responsibility of the commercial establishments to provide free parking facility to visitors. Also, the state had argued that because of malls and multiplexes charging money for parking, traffic burden in the area increases. Not just Ruchi Malls, but a plethora of similarly situated commercial establishments had earlier approached the court against the single judge's order and were successful in getting a stay against Justice Trivedi's order from the division bench of former Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi.

THEY MOVED COURT

As per details, the commercial establishments from Vadodara, Surat, and Ahmedabad, had initially approached the single judge bench of the court against the ban imposed on them from collecting parking fees by the police authorities.

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