DHAKA: The Bombay High Court of India asked the Maharashtra state government to explain for how long will commuters using state-run public transport pay 15 paise surcharge for relief of refugees of the Bangladesh war.

The surcharge, introduced by the state government in 1971, continues to be levied till date and some public transport agencies have even stopped depositing the collected levy in the state treasury.

In their order, Justice SJ Vazifdar and BP Colabawalla directed the government to file an affidavit giving details to where it has utilised the Rs 442 crore it has collected through surcharge till date.

The court observed that if the money collected from commuters is not deposited in the government then why has the government not taken action against the defaulting undertakings. "That means the government is not serious about this issue," the court observed.

The court passed this order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by a social activist Vikrant Chandrahas Tawde.

In his PIL, Tawde pointed out that though the levy was initially meant for Bangladesh refugees, some public transport agencies have not deposited the money collected with the state treasury. Instead, the money is used to pay the staff salaries, or has been diverted by the government to fund the populist food and nutrition scheme. TOI had highlighted this issue in its February 6 issue under title `Commuters still pay levy as relief for refugees of war that ended long ago`.

The levy has been collected from passengers using public transport run by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, Thane Municipal Transport, Pune Municipal Transport, Mira Bhayander Municipal Transport, Kolhapur Municipal Transport and Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Transport. The above collection data pertains to a period from 1974 to 2011."Such diversion of money from one department to another requires a government resolution (GR). But, the finance department which sanctions the use and transfer of funds could not produce a GR to that effect when I asked for it through RTI,`` said Tawde.

"This means the money collected is still being used for Bangladesh refugees or if it is used for mid day meal programme, it is misappropriation of funds,`` he added.

Source: TOI
BDST: 0952 HRS, FEB 09, 2014