Licence fee row: Parking contractors in Chandigarh to move court

The two parking contractors in Chandigarh have decided to move court against the municipal corporation’s notices for the recovery of ₹4.5-crore pending licence fee.

The two parking contractors in Chandigarh have decided to move court against the municipal corporation’s notices for the recovery of ₹4.5-crore pending licence fee.

Divided into two zones, there are 89 parking lots being managed by these contractors in Chandigarh.

While the Zone-1 contractor owes ₹1.67 crore, the Zone-2 contractor has to pay up ₹2.88 crore, according to the notices issued on November 14.

The MC has also warned them of cancelling the contracts and taking over the parking lots if they fail to clear the dues within a week. Divided into two zones, there are 89 parking lots being managed by these contractors.

Vikas Pandey, manager of Delhi-based Pashchatya Entertainment Pvt Ltd that operates parking lots in Zone 2, said: “We will approach the Punjab and Haryana high Court against the MC notice. The exemptions being sought by us are justified and as per the contract.”

While Zone-2 contractor had sought an exemption of ₹98.64 lakh, Patna-based Ram Sundar Prasad Singh, who runs the Zone-1 parking lots, had requested the MC to waive ₹1.02 crore licence fee on account of losses due to the Covid-19 lockdown and free parking given to municipal employees.

The MC General House had rejected their demand during a meeting last Friday, following which recovery notices were issued.