Allahabad HC reserves judgment on removing DND Flyway toll

The petitioners have sought directions to restrain the Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd from collecting toll on the DND flyway connecting Delhi with Noida.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday reserved judgment in the case related to the collection of toll on Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway.

The petitioners have sought directions to restrain the Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd from collecting toll on the DND flyway connecting Delhi with Noida. (Burhaan Kinu/HT Photo)

The Bench comprising justice Arun Tandon and justice Sunita Agarwal reserved the judgment in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Association (FONRWA), which had sought directions to restrain the Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) from collecting toll on the flyway.

According to the petitioner, the company has already earned nearly four times its total project cost but was still collecting toll from the public.

Further, the petitioner’s contention was that the Noida authority had not advertised the tender for collection of toll on DND flyway and arbitrarily entered into a contract with NTBCL for collection of toll for a period of 30 years.

NTBCL’s pleaded that its contract with the Noida authority is binding and collection of toll is less than the estimates as per the contract. Hence, as per the contract, liability of the Noida authority has only increased in the last few years. Therefore, in case of a breach of contract, the authority would be liable to pay a huge amount as compensation to NTBCL.

The HC after hearing all parties concerned reserved it judgment for a later date.

The 9.2-km-long arterial road connects Delhi to Noida and east Delhi and is used by around 1,25,000 vehicles on a weekday. On an average, the NTBCL collects around Rs 25 lakh daily as toll with cars paying Rs 28 and two-wheelers coughing up Rs 12 per trip.