HC refuses to vacate stay on collection of toll on e-way

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday refused to vacate its stay order on the collection of toll tax at the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway toll plaza. It issued a notice to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on an application moved by the South Municipal corporation of Delhi (SMCD) seeking permission to collect toll tax from commercial vehicles.

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday refused to vacate its stay order on the collection of toll tax at the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway toll plaza. It issued a notice to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on an application moved by the South Municipal corporation of Delhi (SMCD) seeking permission to collect toll tax from commercial vehicles.

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The case came up for hearing before the division bench comprising acting chief justice Jasbir Singh and justice Rakesh Kumar Jain on Monday. The SMCD submitted that it was facing a huge loss on daily basis as the high court had stayed collection of toll tax at Gurgaon toll plaza.

The high court had on September 4 restrained the concessionaire firm from collecting toll tax for 15 days. The SMCD also submitted that after the high court order, most of the commercial vehicles had started entering Delhi from Gurgaon just to avoid toll tax which had thus caused huge rush on the road and loss to the civic body. The SMCD said that the toll plaza concessionaire Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL) had not informed the SMCD about the ongoing proceedings in the case before the high court.

But the bench refused to extend any interim relief to the SMCD. The court said that the SMCD was only interested in its tax collection and not about the problems faced by commuters on a daily basis.

The bench questioned the counsel appearing for the SMCD as to whether the corporation had ever raised or discussed the issue of long traffic jams at the toll plaza and the inconvenience being faced by daily commuters. The case was adjourned for next hearing on September 20 with directions to the NHAI to file its reply.