KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by some residents of Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) against the collection of toll tax for being misconceived.

The petitioners had approached the SHC in 2021 and asserted that they have to pay toll tax on entry and exit every time they visited the city and pleaded to direct the relevant authorities to stop receiving toll tax from the residents of BTK.

The counsel for petitioners contended that collection of toll tax from the petitioners was in violation of a concession agreement signed in 2015 and Article 15 of the Constitution. The petitioners had also asked for relocation of a toll station on the M-9 Motorway.

Initially, the SHC had passed an interim restraining order for collecting such tax not just from the petitioners but from all vehicles of residents of BTK and visitors thereto.

A two-judge constitutional bench of SHC headed by Justice Agha Faisal said irrespective of the fact that the agreement was a contract and enforcement of contractual rights was not amenable in writ jurisdiction, the agreement was signed between National Highway Authority and a private firm and the petitioners were not party thereto.

“No locus standi of the petitioners could be demonstrated before us, hence, no case is made out to befall them within the meaning of aggrieved persons; as envisaged per Article 199 of the Constitution”, it added.

The Article 15 enshrines protection for freedom of movement and under no stretch of imagination could the levy/collection of toll, in the present facts and circumstances, be demonstrated to infringe thereupon, it said and added that the petition was found to be misconceived.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2025