Double fee: Traders take interior ministry, CDA to court
The direction came in connection with a petition of fruit and vegetable traders against ‘imposition of double fee
Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID
ISLAMABAD:
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed, on Friday, the administrator of the market committee of Sabzi Mandi to submit a reply in a week.
The direction came in connection with a petition of fruit and vegetable traders against ‘imposition of double fee’.
Challenging the licence fee being charged by two different authorities, fruit and vegetable traders in I-11/4 have taken interior ministry, city administration, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and others to court.
The petitioners through their counsel, Haseeb Shakoor Paracha, stated that the demand of obtaining licence and levy of fee on shopkeepers and traders, by the respondents, was unwarranted and illegal and was liable to be set-aside.
On one hand, CDA by law has the right to set up a public market and charge fee for licence issuance, the counsel maintained, adding that on the other, the interior ministry issued a notification, under the ICT Agriculture Produce Market Ordinance 2002, authorising the market committee to set up a market and charge a licence fee.
Both laws empower two different authorities to set-up and administer markets and to charge fee for issuance of licences for carrying on business therein, Paracha said. He added power granted to two different authorities under laws was overlapping and hence the respondents’ actions were unwarranted and liable to be struck down.
The counsel added the traders were paying the ‘Trade License Fee’ to CDA whereas the same was also being demanded by administrator of the market committee. The case will be taken up on November 13.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2015.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed, on Friday, the administrator of the market committee of Sabzi Mandi to submit a reply in a week.
The direction came in connection with a petition of fruit and vegetable traders against ‘imposition of double fee’.
Challenging the licence fee being charged by two different authorities, fruit and vegetable traders in I-11/4 have taken interior ministry, city administration, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and others to court.
The petitioners through their counsel, Haseeb Shakoor Paracha, stated that the demand of obtaining licence and levy of fee on shopkeepers and traders, by the respondents, was unwarranted and illegal and was liable to be set-aside.
On one hand, CDA by law has the right to set up a public market and charge fee for licence issuance, the counsel maintained, adding that on the other, the interior ministry issued a notification, under the ICT Agriculture Produce Market Ordinance 2002, authorising the market committee to set up a market and charge a licence fee.
Both laws empower two different authorities to set-up and administer markets and to charge fee for issuance of licences for carrying on business therein, Paracha said. He added power granted to two different authorities under laws was overlapping and hence the respondents’ actions were unwarranted and liable to be struck down.
The counsel added the traders were paying the ‘Trade License Fee’ to CDA whereas the same was also being demanded by administrator of the market committee. The case will be taken up on November 13.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2015.