DigitEye India Fact Checkers
An advisory letter stating that ‘no toll fees for the private vehicles of defence personnel’ is going viral on social media. The single page advisory alleges that there has been a change to the Indian Toll (Army, Air Force) Act, 1901.
According to the changes, the new rule states that along with the exemption of toll fees for army personnel, the same has also been granted to their private vehicles on the production of identity cards. The letter adds that this information should be relayed swiftly to toll staff.
The letter has been spreading like wildfire through forwarded messages. Digiteye India received a request to fact check this claim on WhatsApp.
FACT CHECK
When the Digiteye India team took a look at the letter, many clues gave away that the letter was fake.
The header of the letter has no mention of the Ministry this has been issued from. The date Aug 25, 2023, is handwritten and photostated. The letter uses words in short form; words such as “service pers, reg forces, gtd on pvt vehs of def pers, comes, Rks, indl, fmn channel” are used. The correct usage in an official advisory should be “service personnel, registered forces, granted on private vehicles of defence personnel, individual.” No official statement from the government uses mindless abbreviations and short forms.
We took a look at The Indian Toll (Army, Air Force) Act, 1901. Section 3 of the Act says that all officers, soldiers, airmen and all members of the families of officers, soldiers, airmen or authorized followers are exempted from paying toll.
We found a clarification that was issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on June 17, 2014, after some misconceptions. After clarification, the ministry stated: “The issue was re-examined and it is now being clarified that the exemption under the Indian Toll (Army and Air Force) Act, 1901 is available only to the persons who are ‘on duty’ and does not pertain to retired personals. No exemption is available on the use of a personal vehicle if it is not used for discharging any official purpose and duty, even if it accompanies the said official. The exemption is available only on the production of pass as specified in the Indian Toll (Army and Air Force) Ru1es, 1942.”
The Ministry has categorically clarified that toll exemption is only available for those personnel who are on duty. This does not extend to retired officers. It also clarified that exemption is allowed on private vehicles only if used for an official purpose and duty.
A report by The Indian Express dated February 20, 2020 stated that in response to RTI queries, the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) has stated that toll tax is exempted for defence personnel only if they are travelling on duty. No exemption has been made for their private vehicles if they are off duty.
Hence, the claim made in the viral claim with an order copy is false.
CLAIM: A viral advisory states that toll tax is exempted also for the private vehicles of defence personnel.
CONCLUSION: The letter is fake and it has many clues that give that away. According to the clarifications made by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, it states that exemption is available only to persons who are ‘on duty’ and does not extend it to retired personnel. No exemption is available on the use of a personal vehicle if it is not used for discharging any official duty. Replying to RTI queries, NHAI also said the same.
RATING: Misinterpretation — 
