The Hindu Business Line : Where is the equality?

AFTER the arrest of the Kanchi Acharya, everyone has been saying that nobody is above the law of the land and that every citizen should be treated equally. But does this rule also apply to the government and its various agencies, especially those that provide monopoly services?

For instance, a city water and sewerage board not only levies a stiff charge but also raises the fee regularly when for years it has not supplied any water. Worse, it levies , a surcharge at the rate of 2 per cent per month on non-payment of the water charges. This amount is actually interest, but to avoid legal complications, it was termed `surcharge'.

Two per cent per month works out to a stiff rate, not unlike that charged by money-lenders. Often, the surcharge far exceeds the water charges themselves. Complaints are met with threats of disconnection of water connection. But if you protest that you do not even have a connection, the board threatens to disconnect the sewerage line. A potent weapon indeed.

The Board even warns of confiscation of the property of the defaulters. Almost bordering on extortion.There are then the electricity charges. Usually the meter is `read' once in two months and the charges are calculated. But the overcharging for every reading often goes unnoticed.

The charges for the power consumed are based on a slab system. The normal marketing practice is that if you consume more, you get a discount, whereas most electricity boards charge a higher rate for consumption beyond a certain limit.

By corollary, if the reading is taken every month, the charges would be less than that for two months. On the one hand,power utilities depute the meter reader every two months and, on the other, levy higher charges on the additional units consumed.

A similar example is the road tax: The government brought out a legislation that there would be a one-time road tax for 15 years on the new vehicles purchased, instead of quarterly or yearly. This was a welcome move as it reduced the bother of paying tax every year. The Government allowed a small discount if the tax was yearly instead of quarterly. This method reduced the cost of collection and administration besides the cost involved in stationery.

Earlier, the tax was levied depending on the category of the vehicle and its horse-power. Now, it is calculated on the price of the vehicle. A car which cost Rs 8 lakh then attracted an annual tax of Rs 800, whereas for a car costing Rs 5 lakh, the one-time tax is about Rs 33,000.

Even by the earlier rate of Rs 800 for 15 years, it would work out to Rs 12,000. Thus, the car owner is grossly over-charged for saving government expenditure. A double benefit for the authorities.

Are these not instances of double standards? Where, then, is the equality?

V. C. Paul Bahl

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