In a big relief to commercial establishments in the state, malls and multiplexes can continue to levy parking fees. A division bench of the Gujarat High Court has stayed an earlier verdict passed by a single-judge bench directing these establishments to provide free parking to visitors for an hour and limit the maximum parking charges to Rs 10/day for two-wheelers and Rs 30/day for four-wheelers. The directions issued by a single-judge bench were stayed after Dhanlaxmi Infrastructure Private Limited, the developers of VR Surat, challenged the verdict.
The division bench also stayed the court's order directing the state government to formulate a comprehensive parking policy if it wishes to control the parking charges levied by malls, multiplexes, and similar commercial establishments. While staying the directions, the division bench, however, clarified that the government is free to formulate a parking policy and the court's stay should not be treated as a constraint in the same.
Notably, the counsel for the petitioner told DNA that the Supreme Court in its judgments has clarified that courts cannot direct the government to frame policies as it is the prerogative of the latter. The petitioner also contended that the single-judge bench could not have issued directions to commercial establishments to provide free parking or cap parking changes, especially when there are no existing rules prescribing the same.
Earlier, Inorbit Malls Private Limited had challenged the verdict and the court had stayed the same only for Inorbit Mall. However, this time, the court imposed a stay on the single-judge bench's order, which will be a relief for all commercial establishments across the state.
As per the case details, malls and multiplexes in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, had initially approached the single-judge bench of the high court against the ban imposed on them by the police administrations of these three cities from collecting parking charges from visitors. The state government vehemently argued in favour of the police authorities contending that it is the responsibility of the commercial establishments to provide free parking to visitors. However, in the absence of any specific rules, the single-judge bench had ruled in favour of the malls, but issued multiple directions to them. Now, the malls and multiplexes have moved the division bench against these directions.