Alleging that the toll collections being made by the Maharashtra government at five entry points to Mumbai were “illegal”, RTI activist and lawyer Pravin Wategaonkar on Friday urged the Bombay High Court to “quash” the relevant notifications and “suspend” the toll collections made at the five entry points to the country’s commercial capital.
In a public interest litigation (PIL) filed before a HC bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad, Wategaonkar sought the suspension of the toll collection at all five entry points to Mumbai on the ground that they were ultra vires of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1958 and Article 265 of the Constitution.
Wategaonkar told the court that pending the suspension of the toll collection, interim reliefs be provided with respect to his prayer.
In his PIL, the petitioner stated that the continued levy of toll on five entry-points to Mumbai – Vashi, Dahisar, Airoli bridge, Mulund on Eastern Express Highway, and Mulund on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg as “arbitrary, mala fide and illegal”. He urged the HC bench to set aside the notifications dated September 27, 2002, and June 25, 2025.
Wategaonkar contended that under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Tax Act mandated that the rate at which and the period for which tolls to be levied should be determined having regard to the Total Capital Outlay- as defined in the Act.
The petitioner, who himself appeared before the court, averred that the determination of Total Capital Outlay was a condition precedent to the Levy of Toll, as held by the Court earlier in a PIL.
The HC wanted to know from the petitioner as to how he did know the toll was being collected based on the notification. He told the court that earlier, when the vehicle owners paid cash, a receipt was issued which carried the notification number and that with FASTag, such a receipt was not being issued.
“The determination of Total Capital Outlay is available as regards the Contract between the Union of India & MSRDC for NH-4. In the current case, such data is not available for Mumbai Entry Point (MEP), which is a requirement of law. And therefore, the toll collection is illegal,” the petitioner told the court. After hearing the petitioner, the HC bench asked Wategaonkar “to do more research” and adjourned the case for 4 weeks.
In his petition, Wategaonkar stated, “To collect toll to recover full amount of such outlay requires authorisation from the State government by way of agreement with the entrepreneur (MSRDC). Simply stated determination of capital outlay and authorization from the State government by way of a Build, Operate and Transfer (B.O.T) agreement between the State and Entrepreneur (MSRDC) executing the project is a condition precedent before a toll notification is issued.”
Maintaining that the state government had knowledge of the requirement of agreement. Information obtained under the RTI Act discloses there is no such agreement in existence prior to issuance of impugned toll notifications.
“The said notifications are vitiated by non-existence of mandatory compliances before issuance thereof and therefore arbitrary, mala fide and illegal. The locations of these toll booths arbitrarily and in a mala-fide manner discriminate against vehicle owners from the Thane district vis-a-a-vis those from Mumbai.
“Vehicle owners from both Mumbai as well as Thane districts have to pay one-time Motor Vehicle tax, as per law which entitles them to use roads all over the State, whereas toll is collected only from owners of Thane for improvements of roads largely within Mumbai city. This is a violation of art. 14 r/w Article 19 of the Constitution,” the petition stated.