Court stops Ondo from imposing haulage fees on quarry products

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the state
government to stop imposing haulage fees on sand and other quarry
products excavated within the state.

It was gathered that the state government had been prosecuting
quarry haulage operators in the state at the state mobile court who
refused to pay haulage fees imposed by Regulation 17 of the Ondo
State Emission Control Scheme, Sand Evacuation Control and Scrap
Metal Removal Regulation, 2013 as amended.

A firm, Samchase Nigeria Limited, has earlier filed the suit
against the state government challenging the validity of the
Regulation and competence of the state mobile court to prosecute
the alleged defaulters.

The defendants in the suit were the Ondo State Commissioner for
Environment and the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for
Justice.

After hearing the arguments from both the claimant’s and the
defence counsel, the court, in its judgment, declared that the
imposition of haulage fees by the state government was illegal,
null and void.

Delivering the judgment, the Justice A.O. Adegbenhingbe also
declared that the state mobile court had no competence to try the
alleged offences.

The court also issued an order of perpetual injunction against
the defendants, restraining them from prosecuting the claimant on
the basis of Regulation 17 of the Ondo State Emission Control
Scheme, Sand Evacuation Control and Scrap Metal Removal Regulation,
2013 as amended.

The court said, “In the circumstances of this suit, Regulation
17 is not valid and it is not enforceable. The claimant could not
have been validly arraigned for contravening an invalid provision
made by first defendant, including Regulation 31, which meant to
give effect to Regulation 17.”

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