Cross River: Court limits state’s power to collect revenue, impound vehicles

From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar

A Cross River High Court has barred the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency (CTRA) from imposing fines, collecting revenue, and confiscating vehicles belonging to the Delivery Vehicle Owners and Drivers Association of Nigeria (DELVAN) indefinitely.

The High Court, sitting at Akamkpa, was presided over by Justice Offem I. Offem in the suit marked No. HK/2/2025.

The case had the Incorporated Trustees of Delivery Vehicle Owners and Drivers Association of Nigeria (DELVAN) as applicants and claimants, while the Government of Cross River State, Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency, Mr Efa Effiong Nyong, and the Attorney General of Cross River State were defendants.

The court ruled that the defendants have no powers under the 1999 Constitution and Law No. 2 of 2010, as amended in 2017, to unilaterally impose fines on DELVAN members.

The judgement, delivered on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, reads in part: “I find and hold that the defendants have no powers under the 1999 Constitution and Law No. 2 of 2010, as amended in 2017, to unilaterally impose fines on the members of the claimant and go ahead to confiscate their vehicles for failure to pay those fines.

“They acted ultra vires the constitution and the law supra. And to this extent, therefore, the claimant’s case is successful, and I so find and hold. I have already ordered the release of those vehicles to the claimant, and I am sure the defendants have complied.

“I hereby order that on no account should the defendants ever impose fines and impound vehicles belonging to members of the claimant for any reason whatsoever without recourse to a court of competent jurisdiction, particularly the Revenue Court set up for that purpose,” the judge said.

This comes barely three months after the Federal High Court in Calabar awarded N50m to DELVAN for breach of fundamental human rights.

DELVAN and CTRA have been at loggerheads, and this has led to the confiscation of vehicles belonging to its members, which resulted in a series of litigations at federal and state high courts.