A move by the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to reimplement a $15,000 licensing fee for private excursion buses has been deemed to be unlawful.
Delivering a judgment, yesterday, High Court Judge Frank Seepersad upheld a lawsuit brought by the Private Bus Owners/Operators Association and its president Nazim Mohammed against the corporation, the Transport Commissioner, and the Office of the Attorney General.
Justice Seepersad ruled that the association and Mohammed had a legitimate expectation that the public service vehicle (PSV) licence would not be charged without justification or consultation after it was not enforced between 2004 and 2023, when the PTSC sought to reintroduce it.
While Justice Seepersad issued a series of declarations over the decision, he only awarded nominal general damages of $15,000 and $5,000 for Mohammed and the association, respectively, as he ruled that they provided no evidence of tangible loss because the PTSC waived the fee requirement after they filed the lawsuit.
However, he ordered $75,000 in vindicatory damages each for Mohammed and the association for the corporation’s arbitrary, oppressive, and unreasonable conduct in breaching their constitutional rights to the enjoyment of their property and protection of the law.
In their court filings, the association’s lawyers led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan claimed that from 1997 to 2004, his client’s members, who do charters and excursions using refurbished decommissioned PTSC buses, were required to pay the fee to conduct transactions with the Licensing Authority.
The fee for the PSV licence was initially set at $100 but was increased annually. It stood at $7,500 in 2004.
Their lawyers claimed that in 2004, Mohammed and his members were informed by officials of the authority that the PTSC did not have the power to impose such fees and the licence would no longer be required to conduct transactions.
Mohammed and his members followed the instructions and were permitted to conduct transfers and inspections of their omnibuses.
The lawyers claimed that when Mohammed and his members attempted to have their buses inspected last year, they were told that they would be once again required to obtain a PSV licence from the PTSC before they could complete the process.
They were also informed that without the PSV licence, they would only be able to have three passengers in the buses inclusive of the driver.
In deciding the case, Justice Seepersad noted that PTSC had the power to impose the PSV licence and associated fees.
“The imposition of the PSV licence and PSV fee, in principle, is neither illegal nor ultra vires,” he said.
However, he ruled that the association had a legitimate expectation based on the non-collection of the fee until the corporation sought to reintroduce it.
“In this court’s view, over an extensive period a pellucid practice was established and after the effluxion of 19 years, this practice must be treated as being tantamount to a clear and unambiguous representation,” he said.
Justice Seepersad noted that PTSC’s claims that the fee was needed to augment its revenue collection and ensure a safe and efficient public transport system were invalid.
“This court is of the view that there are a myriad of statutory provisions which presently exist and which can be utilised to ensure that operators of motor omnibuses are registered as public service vehicles with the correct seating capacity,” he added.
Dealing with the fee charges, Justice Seepersad ruled that it was excessive and unreasonable as he noted that maxi taxi drivers are charged a $2,400 fee for the same PSV licence although they (maxi taxi operators) use PTSC facilities and excursion buses do not.
Stating that services provided by Mohammed and his members ought not to be marginalised, Justice Seepersad suggested that they could contribute to the development of the tourism sector.
“There exists the need to revamp the manner in which decisions are effected and every effort has to be made to remove oppressive bureaucratic approaches and to adopt policies and practices which encourage and facilitate the ease of doing business,” Justice Seepersad said.
As part of his judgment, PTSC, the Transport Commissioner and the AG’s Office were ordered to pay the association’s legal costs for the case.
The association was also represented by Jayanti Lutchmedial, Kent Samlal, Vishaal Siewsaran, Natasha Bisram, and Aasha Ramlal.
PTSC was represented by Bronock Reid. The Licensing Authority was represented by Ian Benjamin, SC.
