A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday challenging the National Highway Authority’s (NHA) decision to impose a 50% additional toll surcharge on vehicles without an M-Tag and those with insufficient M-Tag balances.
The petition, filed by lawyer Muhammad Jalal Haider, names the Ministry of Communications, the National Highway Authority and other officials as respondents.
The petitioner asked the court to declare the NHA’s May 30, 2025 notification unlawful and order the authority to refund all amounts collected under the disputed surcharge.
According to the petition, the notification introduced an additional 50% charge on vehicles using the motorway network without an M-Tag or with inadequate M-Tag balances.
The petitioner argued that Section 10 of the NHA Act authorizes the authority to collect tolls but does not empower it to impose penalties on either category of motorists. It contends that the surcharge has no legal basis and exceeds the powers granted to the authority under the law.
The petition further alleges that the measure violates Articles 4, 18, 24 and 25 of Pakistan’s Constitution, which relate to the protection of law, freedom of trade, property rights and equality before the law.
In addition to seeking the notification’s annulment, the petitioner requested the court to direct the NHA to disclose the complete mechanism governing the M-Tag balance system and its implementation, while ordering refunds of all penalties collected under the May 30 notification.
Separately, a visually impaired woman who was defrauded by a former bank manager has recovered nearly 19.2 million rupees, while the Islamabad High Court has ordered the seizure of the convict’s two vehicles to help recover the remaining amount.
A division bench comprising Justice Muhammad Azam Khan and Justice Inaam Amee Minhas issued the order while hearing an application filed by petitioner Darakhshan Mirza seeking enforcement of an earlier recovery order.
Appearing before the court, Mirza thanked the judges for their assistance in securing the recovery of her money.
Assistant Attorney General Azmat Bashir Tarar told the court that Mirza had already received 15.9 million rupees. He said she had also received two additional payments-a cheque of 2.8 million rupees and another for 530,000 rupees-bringing the recovered amount to about 19.2 million rupees.
The court directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to recover two vehicles belonging to convicted former bank manager Rameez Javed within a week and submit a detailed compliance report.
Rameez Javed is serving a five-year prison sentence at Adiala Jail after being convicted of embezzling more than 20 million rupees from Mirza while serving as a bank manager.
The Islamabad High Court had previously dismissed Javed’s appeal against his conviction and also ordered recovery of the defrauded amount. After the full amount was not recovered, Mirza filed the present application seeking implementation of the court’s order.
The bench adjourned further proceedings until July 7 and directed the FIA to submit a progress report on the recovery of the vehicles.