A division bench comprising justice SA Bobade and justice RD Dhanuka gave the oral direction to the BMC to stop fine collection by the marshals for a week.
Holding that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) does not have sovereign powers and that private persons cannot levy fines on citizens, the Bombay high court on Tuesday restrained clean-up marshals from slapping fines on citizens for a week.
A division bench comprising justice SA Bobade and justice RD Dhanuka gave the oral direction to the BMC to stop fine collection by the marshals for a week. The order was passed during the hearing of a petition filed by ESS Infra Projects Private Limited, an association of ready cement mix truck owners, which challenged the marshals' authority to fine truck owners for leaving a trail of mud on roads.
"Sovereign powers of the state government cannot be given to private persons. Fining/imprisoning is a sovereign power authorised by the legislature or Parliament. Bye-laws of the corporation cannot do so, as BMC is neither Parliament nor the legislature," observed the bench.
Advocate Mukesh Vashi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that clean-up marshals have been slapping a fine of Rs10,000 on owners of trucks that have mud around their wheels, and in case of failure to pay up, the vehicles are detained for hours, causing a loss of Rs30,000. Cement, he added, has to be delivered in three hours of manufacture or else it dries up. Although clean-up marshals are taking action based on the BMC's bye-laws, there is no authority that can adjudicate such allegations, pointed out Vashi. "This is completely arbitrary and discriminatory," he complained.
To this, the bench asked, "If someone is found spitting or urinating on the road, will that also be disputed?" Vashi then said, "What if I want to challenge the claim (that) there is not authority to do that?"
The bench agreed with Vashi's arguments but sought judgments of the Gujarat high court and the SC, which have dealt with such issues.
The matter will be heard again next week.
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