On Thursday, the Peshawar High Court sent a notice to the federal government asking for its response to an appeal against the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway’s increased toll fee and the punishment it imposed on vehicles without M-Tags.
Following a preliminary hearing of a petition filed by seven Charsadda-based attorneys, including Asif Ali Shah, asking the court to declare the recent increase in the toll tax on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway illegal, a bench made up of Justices Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Syed Mudassir Ameer issued the order.
Additionally, they asked the court to rule that a government notification from January 31 that fined cars without M-Tag or those with M-Tag with low balance was unlawful.
They asked the court to order the government to refrain from raising the toll levy in the future without following the law, doing so in a transparent manner, and consulting the public.Additionally, the petitioners have asked the court to grant them temporary relief, delaying the implementation of the higher toll tax rates and the levying of fines until the petition is resolved.
The chairman of the National Highway Authority and the secretaries of the ministries of justice and law and communication are the respondents in the plea.
Advocates Syed Azeem Dad, Arif Jan, and others represented the petitioners, arguing that since there were a greater number of people who were upset about the toll fee rise, they might be treated in a way that was reflective of the Charsadda district’s citizens.
The petitioners claimed that because they were law-abiding residents of the nation, they had the right to contest arbitrary fines and illegal taxes that went against the law and the constitution.
According to them, NHA is a statutory organization in charge of building, maintaining, and collecting tolls on national highways and motorways.They asserted that the freeway toll tax was raised several times last year.
They noted that in 2024, the toll tax for motorcars and other vehicles was raised from Rs30 to Rs40 and then again from Rs40 to Rs60 from Peshawar to Charsadda and vice versa.
They said that the aforementioned increases, which were neither backed by an open public consultation process nor justified by any advancements in road infrastructure services, had an impact on not just the residents of Charsadda district but also other province residents.
They claimed that in the interim, the government published the contested notice on January 31st, which allowed the respondents to impose a 25% additional toll tax on non-M-Tag and low balance M-Tag vehicles and to enforce the 100% M-Tag regime. They argued that the toll tax increase was disproportionate, arbitrary, and unwarranted.
They said that any disproportionate increase without cause went against the principles of fair taxation and that NHA was only permitted to impose toll taxes in a reasonable manner under Section 16 of the National Highway Authority Act, 1991.
According to the attorneys, the respondents violated fundamental rights protected by Articles 18 (Freedom of Trade, Business, and Profession) and 25 (Right to Equal Protection of Law) of the Pakistani Constitution by failing to present a legitimate justification for the increase.
They argued that there was no legislation or notification requiring the installation of M-Tags or imposing penalties for noncompliance. They further noted that while there are other public-private toll collecting regimes in the globe where increases are implemented gradually and with adequate public engagement, the respondents in Pakistan behaved unilaterally and without following the proper procedures.
