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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