Fees by government agencies collected legally and properly: MND

The fees that government agencies have been collecting from the public are legal and proper, the Ministry of National Development (MND) has said.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (May 12), the ministry said the charges such as expediting temporary occupation permit inspections by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and processing resale flat applications by HDB were publicly known and properly administered to recover at cost the services provided.

The other charges include expedited processing of certain licences and permits, fees for species certification by the National Parks Board (NParks), as well as the recovery of expenses by HDB and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for illegally parked vehicles.

MND pointed out that a new law passed in Parliament last week is meant to put the legal position beyond doubt and set out the fees and charges more explicitly in legislation. 

"This aligns our laws with long-standing practices and provides greater clarity, transparency and certainty for future transactions," the ministry added.

The Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, which retroactively validated fees charged by HDB, URA, NParks and BCA was passed in Parliament on May 7. 

All 11 of the Workers’ Party (WP) MPs voted against it.

In a Facebook post on Monday (May 11), the opposition party said that the Bill removes the right of anyone affected to challenge past collections. 

"The Workers’ Party cannot support a provision that retrospectively validates money collections not provided for by legislation, removes legal rights from citizens without providing Parliament with the full facts," the post said.

In response, MND said that the fees and charges that their agencies had collected in the past were legal and proper. 

Refunds will not be provided for past fees collected, the ministry added.

"Refunding past fees would mean taxpayers subsidising services that had already been performed by users. This would not be fair to other Singaporeans."

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chingshijie@asiaone.com