GURGAON:
Punjab and Haryana high court, while hearing a public interest
litigation, has asked the department of posts, Gurgaon, to settle, in 15
days, the discrepancy surrounding the cost of sending a Speed Post from
Gurgaon to Delhi. According to the petitioner, while it costs only Rs
17 to send Speed Post from Delhi to Gurgaon, it costs Rs 39 to send it
from Gurgaon to Delhi. The court on Friday gave the postal department to
dispose of the petition in 15 days.
A city resident had filed the PIL accusing the department of causing
loss to exchequer and cheating people. He has demanded that the
department should refund crores of rupees it has charged from Gurgaon
residents.
"The very fact that the high court has entertained the PIL shows that it
too finds something wrong with the way the postal department is
charging fee for Speed Post. else it would have dismissed the petition.
Even postal department officials in Gurgaon unofficially admit that what
they are charging is not correct but retract from doing what they
should because they know that they might have to refund crores of
rupees," said Aseem Takyar, the petitioner.
"Earlier, post offices located in Gurgaon charged Rs 17 but from April
2013, onwards, they started charging Rs 35 plus taxes for the 'Speed
Post' mails for Delhi/New Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida. The
reality is, if you send a speed post from the post offices situated at
the Delhi-Gurgaon border, which comes under the jurisdiction of Delhi,
it will cost you Rs 17 for it to be delivered anywhere in Gurgaon or
other NCR regions. At the same time, if you book the same article from
Gurgaon, Rs 39 is charged," said Takyar.
"This is unethical. The postal officials in Gurgaon are now scared of
repercussions for charging excess fee and I hope they come out with a
solution within these 15 days and also refund those from whom they have
charged extra since April this year," he said.
