Martineau: PTSC can impose tax

The Public Transport Service Commission (PTSC) has the power to impose the $1 tax on maxi-taxi operators who use the City Gate hub in Port-of-Spain.

Senior counsel Russell Martineau made this submission to Justice Mustapha Ibrahim in the Port-of-Spain Second Civil Court yesterday during a judicial review filed by the Route 2 Maxi Taxi Association against the $1 user fee for the transport facility.

Martineau said the maxi-taxi drivers use the premises of PTSC which has the right to charge a rent.

He said PTSC, which was created by law in 1965, is not a public authority but operates commercially for profit.

Martineau said a public authority is one which must be acting on behalf of the State, must be non-commercial (where it does not operate for profit), and must carry out a public function... PTSC is neither part of the State nor a public authority

Martineau said the Diego Martin maxi-taxi stand and City Gate, which are both on South Quay, cannot be compared because there is no evidence to show unequal treatment. One, he said, is on Government-owned land, while the other is on facilities owned by PTSC.

Martineau said the State does not have a duty to provide public transport, but to ensure that a function is being done. Attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, who is representing the Route 2 operators, in his last submission on May 4, said the maxi-taxi drivers had legitimate expectations from a former transport minister when they were removed from Broadway.

Maharaj said the maxi-taxi drivers were promised the ability to handle their own affairs, which was why they agreed to remove themselves to the car park area of PTSC.

Martineau argued that whatever was said by the then transport minister, could not be taken into consideration as a representative of PTSC. The matter was adjourned to May 23.