Adjudicating a public interest litigation (PIL), the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Tuesday directed the Union ministry of road transport and highways, the National Highway Authority of India and the J&K government to levy only 20% of the toll fee with immediate effect at Lakhanpur and Ban toll plazas. The decision would provide relief to commuters, including Vaishno Devi pilgrims.
Petitioner Sugandha Sawhney, 29, of Jammu, had filed the PIL, seeking direction to the respondents to exempt toll tax at Lakhanpur plaza in Kathua, Thandi Khui toll plaza and Ban toll plaza in Nagrota till the Pathankot-Udhampur stretch, under the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway project, gets fully operational.
The petitioner cited that the stretch of the national highway-44 from Pathankot in Punjab to Udhampur in J&K was under construction under the expressway project since December 2021.
“Yet the general public is being charged toll tax at Lakhanpur toll plaza, Thandi Khui toll plaza and Ban toll plaza,” the petitioner submitted.
Long traffic snarls have become an order of the day on the aforesaid stretch. Further, the petitioner averred that there were grave hurdles, diversions due to “complete destruction” of the highway. “Not only this, the daily travel time for the residents in the region has significantly increased from three to four hours due to the construction activities, leading to improper road availability, which has further led to extra burden on the fuel consumption in addition to causing wear and tear to the vehicles,” she submitted.
Accordingly, the division bench, comprising chief justice Tashi Rabstan and justice MA Chowdhary, directed the respondents to withdraw the order regarding redistributing the influence length from Lakhanpur to Udhampur among Lakhanpur and Ban toll plazas with effect from January 26, 2024, following the closure of Thandi Khui toll plaza. The bench further directed respondents to levy only 20% of the toll fee with immediate effect. “Respondents shall charge the full toll at both these plazas only after the issuance of a certificate in this regard by an independent surveyor,” the HC stated, adding that no toll shall come up toll within 60 km of the National Highway-44.
{{/usCountry}}Accordingly, the division bench, comprising chief justice Tashi Rabstan and justice MA Chowdhary, directed the respondents to withdraw the order regarding redistributing the influence length from Lakhanpur to Udhampur among Lakhanpur and Ban toll plazas with effect from January 26, 2024, following the closure of Thandi Khui toll plaza. The bench further directed respondents to levy only 20% of the toll fee with immediate effect. “Respondents shall charge the full toll at both these plazas only after the issuance of a certificate in this regard by an independent surveyor,” the HC stated, adding that no toll shall come up toll within 60 km of the National Highway-44.
{{/usCountry}}“Further, if there is any toll plaza in the UT of J&K or in the UT of Ladakh within 60 km of the highway, respondents are directed remove the same within two months from today,” it directed. The court observed that respondents were charging hefty toll fees at Ban toll plaza, whereas toll fees at other toll plazas are also high.