The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a decision barring the collection of toll charges on the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway, and reprimanded the Noida Authority for enabling a toll company to exploit commuters indefinitely.
A bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan affirmed the 2016 judgment of the Allahabad high court, which directed the Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) to cease toll collection from vehicles using the DND flyway, which connects Delhi with Noida.
The Supreme Court found that NTBCL had already recovered both the cost of constructing the flyway and a reasonable profit since the expressway opened in 2001.
Criticising the Noida Authority, the bench noted that the agreement with NTBCL lacked a defined time frame for toll collection, effectively allowing the concessionaire to charge users perpetually.
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“NOIDA overstepped its authority be delegating powers to NTBCL to collect or levy fees, and the arrangement was alien to terms of concessionaire agreement...it has resulted in undue burden on users,” said justice Kant while reading out the operative part of the judgment.
{{/usCountry}}“NOIDA overstepped its authority be delegating powers to NTBCL to collect or levy fees, and the arrangement was alien to terms of concessionaire agreement...it has resulted in undue burden on users,” said justice Kant while reading out the operative part of the judgment.
{{/usCountry}}The bench added that general public has already parted with several hundreds of crores, and that there is no reason for the collection of user or toll fee to continue.
The court also validated the public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2012 by the Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Associations, which challenged the “levy and collection of toll in the name of user fee” by NTBCL. The bench concluded that the PIL was legally sound and rightly adjudicated by the high court.
Highlighting a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the top court further observed that NTBCL had achieved adequate profit through toll collection, reinforcing the finding that further toll collection was unjustified. Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed NTBCL’s appeal against the high court’s judgment.
The DND flyway, operational since 2001, has significantly reduced travel time between Delhi and Noida, easing traffic congestion in the region. Prior to the high court judgment, commuters were charged ₹28 per trip or ₹56 for a round trip for using the expressway, which was touted as a smoother and faster route within the Delhi-NCR region.
The verdict is expected to benefit daily commuters by eliminating a recurring financial burden while ensuring the principle of fairness in public infrastructure projects.