SC refuses to ban toll collection on DND

NEW DELHI/NOIDA: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to ban collection of toll on the DND flyway connecting Noida and Delhi but asked the Allahabad High Court

NEW DELHI/NOIDA: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to ban collection of toll on the DND flyway connecting Noida and Delhi but asked the Allahabad High Court to expeditiously decide the plea of Noida residents associations against the levy of the toll.

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A bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said, “We will request the high court to dispose of the PIL in three months and if that is not possible, then your plea for interim relief( of restraining toll operator from collecting toll) will be considered”.

The Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association (FNRWA), through its president NP Singh, moved the apex court challenging the high court order refusing to restrain toll operator Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) from collecting toll.

The lawyer pleading for Fonrwa, Ranjit Saxena, said they would move the apex court again if the Allahabad High Court, in the rarest case, did not follow the SC orders.

FNRWA has said various clauses of the concessionaire agreement between the Noida authority and NTBCL were in favour of the toll collecting firm that had already earned nearly four times of their total project cost.

The FNRWA alleged that for four years, the high court did not decide its public interest litigation filed in 2012, despite the fact that it was listed for hearing on 70 occasions.

“Recently, we filed a petition in the high court to stay toll collection but that did not happen and we had to move SLP in the apex court,” said AN Dhawan secretary general Fonrwa.

The plea had made various entities, including the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, Union ministry of road transport and highways, public works department and Uttar Pradesh government as parties.

“The entire public of Noida and Delhi are being harassed by the charge of toll fees because the NTBCL has shown the project cost of Rs 2,339.70 crore on March 31, 2012 while the investment in the year 1997 was only Rs 408 crore and till 2012, as per audit report prepared by NTBCL, Rs 801.06 crore were recovered and there was profit of Rs 581.48 crore of NTBCL,” the petition said.

The NTBCL spokesperson said they welcomed the court order as a positive step.