Indian Express: Chandigarh: Thursday,
September 08, 2016.
A letter
issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has resulted in
toll operators in several parts of the country insisting that only those
defence personnel who are traveling ‘on duty’ are entitled to toll tax
exemption.
There is
disquiet among serving defence personnel over issuance of a letter by the
MoRTH, which is in contravention of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force)
Act, 1901. This letter has been released in the form of an RTI reply stating
that defence personnel who are not ‘on duty’ are not entitled to toll tax
exemption. The RTI reply was issued based on notings by a law officer of the
Law Ministry stating that Section 3(b) of the Act only permits toll exemption
to defence personnel who are “on duty”. This letter is now being flaunted by
toll operators to refuse toll exemption to defence personnel.
An advocate
dealing with the case told The Indian Express that Section 3(b) of the act only
deals with Territorial Army (TA) and National Cadet Corps (NCC) personnel for
whom the condition of ‘duty’ is imposed while the said requirement of being ‘on
duty’ is not applicable to personnel of the regular forces to whom Section 3
(a) applies. The advocate said the controversy is needless as it was earlier
settled in 2003 by the same ministry, in consultation with the law ministry,
that there was no requirement of ‘duty’ under the 1901 Act for regular forces.
The grant of toll exemption to defence personnel had earlier in 2006 been
challenged till the Supreme Court but the apex court had upheld the exemption.
Another
curious aspect that has come to light is that when a petition was filed before
the Armed Forces Tribunal on the subject, the MoRTH had sought the opinion of
the Ministry of Defence on the subject. A closer look however revealed that the
opinion had been tendered by ‘Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare’ (DESW)
against the issue saying that the matter concerned a ‘welfare measure’ of
‘ex-servicemen’ while in reality the matter related to a statutory privilege of
serving personnel of the regular forces and the DESW had no jurisdiction on the
issue.
The
Chandimandir-based Western Command of the Army immediately raised a red flag on
the DESW interfering in the matter pointing out the gravity and
inappropriateness and also stating that the matter was under the jurisdiction
of ‘Department of Defence’ (DoD). The AFT also later disposed the petition
stating that it did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
Speaking to
The Indian Express, Lt Col SS Sohi (retd), Chairman of Ex-servicemen Grievances
Cell, said, “This is blatantly illegal harassment of serving personnel on toll
plazas all over the country now reaching alarming proportions, the authorities
in Delhi should finally wake up from their slumber. This is an anti-soldier
move and should be immediately corrected.”
Experts say
that the entire issue is shrouded in a cloud. Firstly, issuance of a letter
under the garb of RTI being issued by the MoRTH thereby contravening a
legislative Act and its own notifications and secondly the DESW which is
concerned with pensions and resettlement of ex-servicemen commenting on an
issue of serving soldiers.
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