High Court Issues Rule on Stopping Mobile Surcharge for Padma Bridge Construction

The High Court has issued a rule questioning why the 1 percent surcharge imposed on mobile phone usage expenses for the construction of the Padma Bridge should not be discontinued.

On Monday (August 18), the bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Md. Hamidur Rahman (Annex-24) issued the rule in response to a writ petition filed by the consumer rights organization, Conscious Consumers Society (CCS). Advocate AKM Azad Hossain represented the petitioners during the hearing. Earlier, on July 10, CCS Executive Director Palash Mahmud filed the writ petition on behalf of the organization. Previously, on June 4, as the first step in legal action, CCS sent notices to the Secretary of the Finance Ministry, Secretary of the Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry, Secretary of the Law Ministry, Secretary of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, Secretary of the Internal Resources Division, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), and authorities of Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, and Teletalk. The notices demanded that the surcharge be discontinued within seven days. The notice stated that a 1 percent surcharge on mobile phone usage expenses was introduced in 2016 for the construction of the Padma Bridge and remains in effect. Over Tk 2,000 crore has been collected from consumers through this surcharge. However, despite the inauguration of the Padma Bridge in 2022, the surcharge has not been stopped. The notice further highlighted that the government enacted the “Development Surcharge and Levy (Imposition and Collection) Act” in 2015 to collect the surcharge for the Padma Bridge. On March 10, 2016, a notification from the Internal Resources Division initiated the surcharge collection. However, Section 4 of the Act specifies that the government may collect the development surcharge for a specified period through a gazette notification. No duration was specified in the notification, and the surcharge has continued for nine years without any steps to discontinue it, which is inconsistent with the law.

With the completion of the Padma Bridge construction, the continued collection of the surcharge without a specified duration is deemed illegal and detrimental to consumer interests. CCS, as a consumer rights organization, has taken legal steps to address this issue, as stated in the notice.