Some more light on the attempted illegal withdrawal of toll tax exemption from serving defence personnel

This relates to the attempt to illegally withdraw toll tax exemption to serving defence personnel recently discussed on this blog on 06 August 2014. 

A distorted version of a letter endorsed by me to the Minister of Road Transport & Highways on the said subject is doing the rounds on social media. 

For the sake of transparency, and to put the issue in the correct perspective, the complete letter is reproduced below.

Hope this clarifies all doubts on the subject.

* * *

Sh Nitin Gadkari

Minister of Road Transport & Highways

Transport Bhawan

1, Parliament Street, New Delhi- 110 001

                                                                                                            21 Oct 2014

ERRONEOUS OFFICE MEMORANDUM DATED 17 JUNE 2014 ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS BASED ON FACTUALLY AND LEGALLY INCORRECT LEGAL ADVICE TENDERED BY AN ASSISTANT LEGAL ADVISER OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE RESULTING IN WITHDRAWAL OF TOLL-TAX EXEMPTION FROM SERVING DEFENCE PERSONNEL

Dear Minister,

1.           The current Government is known to be inclined towards the betterment of the armed forces and looking after their needs and requirements. It is indeed satisfying that the Prime Minister has made his sensitivity known publicly towards the issues related to the men and women in uniform.

2.           Unknown to you however, your Ministry has recently issued a letter (OM No H-24030/32/2014-(Toll) dated 17 June 2014) in the garb of a clarification under the RTI Act whereby an attempt has been made to nullify and withdraw the exemption from toll tax available to ‘on duty’ and ‘off duty’ serving personnel of the defence services under the provisions of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901 and various notifications and letters/OM issued on the subject from time to time and also decisions of Hon’ble Constitutional Courts.

3.          What is more surprising is that the letter has been issued on the basis of an incorrect and patently wrong legal advice by a junior level staffer of the Department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Law & Justice (MoLJ) whereas the same aspect had been clarified and approved at Secretary level of both your Ministry as well as MoLJ in the past. It is also not understood as to how an attempt could be made to nullify an existing dispensation and that too in an ambiguous manner by way of a letter dealing with an RTI query.

4.         A detailed letter on the subject highlighting the correct legal position under law addressed by the undersigned to the Secretary of your Ministry as well as Secretary Department of Legal Affairs, MoLJ is enclosed herewith for your immediate necessary action.

5.            Needless to state, it is requested that OM dated 17 June 2014 may be immediately withdrawn since the same is not only based on incorrect legal and factual appreciation of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air) Force Act, 1901, but is also in direct contravention of the notifications, letters and clarifications issued by the MoRTH in conjunction with MoLJ and law as affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Toll exemption to defence personnel is available not by way of benevolence or a welfare measure but flows from a legislative Act which in turn was incepted to cater to the frequent movement of members of the forces and their families all over the country. It is also sincerely hoped that your officers keep the Minister in loop in the future before issuing any such letter which may have the effect of negatively altering public policy or the morale of the armed forces.

                                                                                                            Thanking You

                                                                                                             Sd/-

* * *

                                                                                                           

Secretary

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

Transport Bhawan

1, Parliament Street

New Delhi- 110 001

Secretary

Department of Legal Affairs

Ministry of Law & Justice

Shastri Bhawan

New Delhi- 110 001

                                                                                                               21 Oct 2014

* * *

1.      This has reference to OM No H-24030/32/2014-(Toll) dated 17 June 2014 issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) based on Legal Advice No FTS-48/JS&LA(SKM)/2014 dated 06 June 2014 tendered by an Assistant Legal Adviser of the Department of Legal Affairs (DoLA), Ministry of Law & Justice (MoLJ) vide which a clarification has been issued ostensibly in the garb of some reply to an RTI query vide which it has been stated in a roundabout manner that personnel of the defence services are not entitled to toll exemption when not ‘on duty’.

2.       Before touching upon the merits of the legal advice by the Assistant Legal Adviser of the DoLA/MoLJ, it would be worthwhile to mention here that the ibid matter based on the provisions of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901, has been fully deliberated upon earlier by the MoRTH at the highest level in conjunction with the MoLJ and has also been a matter of litigation which went till the Hon’ble Supreme Court. However, the entire earlier correct legislative, legal and judicial position has been attempted to be negated by the issuance of the ibid OM dated 17 June 2014. Before proceeding further, the provisions of MoRTH Letter No NH-12037/278/2003/PB/NH-1 dated 12 November 2003 (See Appendix A) are brought to your notice, the relevant extract of which is quoted below:-

“Ministry of Law and Justice have indicated that Indian Tolls (Army and Air Force) Act 1901 is a special Act which over-rides general acts such as National Highways Act, 1956 and private vehicles of the officers, soldiers and airmen of regular forces are exempted from paying toll irrespective of whether they are on duty or not.”

3.      The above correct legal position was also amplified vide MoRTH Letter No NH-11065/12/2003-P&M dated 15 Sept 04 to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) vide paragraph 1 of which it was clearly stated that private vehicles of defence personnel shall be exempted. The subject line of the letter also shows that all categories of exemption under Section 3 of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901, would fall under the definition of ‘defence vehicles’ which is an exemption term usually used on National Highways.

4.        However, the latest MoRTH OM dated 17 June 2014 (See Appendix B) has been issued on the basis of advice tendered by a Assistant Legal Adviser of DoLA/MoLJ (See Appendix C). In Para (c) of the legal advice rendered by the Assistant Legal Adviser in which Sections 3(b) and 3(c) of the Act are taken note of, it is stated by him that “the main focus in Sections 3(b) and (c) is on the word ‘Duty’ ”.  Moreover, in Para (b) of the said legal advice, it is stated that Sections 3(g) and 3(h) of the Act indicate the usage of private vehicles for official purposes or duty only. Unfortunately, the appreciation of the Assistant Legal Adviser is not only legally, but also factually wrong and falls foul of even a literal interpretation of the Act and its provisions, and also of earlier clarifications issued by the Ministry of Law & Justice and the MoRTH which have been affirmed even by the Highest Court of the land.

5.          A bare perusal of Section 3 of the Act (See Appendix D) would show that the ‘On Duty’ proviso is only applicable to personnel of the Territorial Army (TA) and the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and those of the Indian Reserve Forces under Sections 3 (b) and 3 (c) and not to personnel of the Regular Army under Section 3(a). In this context, your attention is invited to Section 3(a) of the Act which provides toll exemption to all officers, soldiers and airmen of the Regular Forces (without the requirement of being ‘On Duty’) whereas Sections 3 (b) and 3 (c) provide toll exemption to TA and NCC personnel and those of the Indian Reserve Forces when on duty or proceeding to or returning from duty/service/training etc. It is bewildering to observe that the Assistant Legal Adviser has taken note of Sections 3(b) and 3(c) in his advice but has omitted to make any reference at all to Section 3(a) which is the actual provision dealing with the Regular Forces. The Assistant Legal Adviser has also commented upon Sections 3(g) and 3(h) but has conveniently overlooked the fact that Sections 3(g), 3(h) and 3(i) operate in different fields. While Section 3(g) exempts all carriages accompanying exempted personnel without there being any requirement of belonging to the Government, Section 3(h) deals with carriages belonging to the Government while 3(i) deals with carriages employed in the service of the Government. The Assistant Legal Adviser has mixed up and confused the provisions of all the three different and separate sections. The provisions of Section 3 are tabulated below for an easier understanding:

Section of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901	Categories to which applicable
Section 3 (a) (i)	Applicable to Regular Forces (without the requirement of being “on duty”)
Section 3 (b)	Applicable to Territorial Army and NCC personnel but only when on duty
Section 3 (c)	Applicable to personnel of the Indian Reserve Forces but only when called out for training/service etc
Section 3 (g)	Applicable to Carriages accompanying exempted personnel (without the requirement of belonging to the Govt or being employed in military service)
Section 3 (h)	Applicable to Carriages belonging to the Govt etc
Section 3 (i)	Applicable to carriages moving under military orders or employed in military service

6.          It is also a matter of deep concern that the issue had earlier been examined by the Ministry of Law & Justice with file notings that were approved by the Secretary of the Department but still the Assistant Legal Adviser has opted to render a diametrically opposite opinion and that too after surprisingly endorsing in Para (a) of his advice that the earlier opinion was correct. It is a cause of greater concern that the file while moving upwards has not been apparently examined in light of the substantive law, that is, the Act itself and it has not even been appreciated by any senior authority in the Law Ministry or the MoRTH that the entire legal advice does not even refer to Section 3(a) of the Act which forms the bedrock of exemption to serving personnel of the regular forces.

7.       It is also brought to your knowledge that provisions of Toll exemption and exemption to ‘off duty’ and ‘on duty’ defence personnel were challenged before the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in Civil Writ Petition No 8508 of 2006. The Petition was however dismissed by a Division Bench of the Hon’ble High Court which held that the Act itself provided for concessions to defence personnel. The order of the Hon’ble High Court in the Hon’ble Supreme Court by way of Special Leave Petition 15419 of 2006 however the order of the Hon’ble High Court and toll exemption to “on duty” and “off duty” personnel of regular forces was affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

8.            It must also be placed on record that such issues which affect the morale of the rank and file of the Armed Forces should not be dealt with in a cavalier manner and neither should Govt policy be allowed to be so fickle so as to change with the personal opinions of officers that too by overriding earlier letters, opinions, notifications, judgements of Constitutional Courts and even substantive  legislative provisions. In fact it surpasses logic as to how could OM dated 17 June 2014 be issued ostensibly in the garb of a clarification under the RTI Act which has had the effect of overriding the earlier legal position solidified by letters and notifications which still have the authority of law and which derive their force from a substantive provision of law which has not been amended?

9.        In view of the above, you are requested to kindly withdraw the legal advice rendered by the concerned Assistant Legal Adviser and also the OM dated 17 June 2014 immediately since the same is not only based on incorrect legal and factual appreciation of the Indian Tolls (Army & Air) Force Act, 1901, but is also in direct contravention of the notifications, letters and clarifications issued by the MoRTH in conjunction with MoLJ and law as affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. It is also requested that meticulous perusal may be initiated in a democratic manner at the highest level before issuing such letters which may result in altering existing Government policy and may have a large impact on the rights, benefits and privileges of a particular section of the society.

Enclosures:

Appendices A to D