The “no-toll” order imposed on the DND Flyway by the Allahabad High Court will remain unchanged, said the Supreme Court on Friday.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur indicated that until it received a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the company’s entitlement to continue collecting toll, it will not alter the High Court’s decision. The apex court is expected to pass its order on November 7, when the Court reopens after Diwali break.
The Noida Toll Company limited, operating the nine-kilometre long Delhi-Noida Expressway, in its appeal questioned the HC’s conclusion on the figure of over Rs 300 crore earned by the company as profit over and above the expense incurred as project cost. The agreement provided for the company to collect 20 percent of project cost as rate of return each year till 30 years or till such time that the project cost is covered.
The company’s lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, submitted that in the past 15 years, never once had the company achieved 20 per cent rate of return on the project cost. On the contrary, he brought statistics to show that for 11 years between 2001-2012, the rate of return was - 6 per cent which improved to 2 per cent in 2013, 3 per cent in 2014, 4 per cent in 2015, and 5 per cent in 2016. Singhvi was open to an audit by any auditor of the Court’s choice. He even proposed an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to be submitted in three weeks.
The Bench consistently asked the company to show its annual entitlement under the agreement in terms of money. But with no clear response coming from Singhvi, the Bench observed, “Can you not determine your return over a nine-kilometer long road. This is not a road to moon.”
At the same time, the Bench observed that this exercise is a specialised one. “We will pass an order on the reopening by providing for an arrangement that will consider all parameters. We will also consider if CAG or somebody can determine your entitlement under the agreement to collect toll,” said the Bench, also comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and lN Rao.
Singhvi said that his client was a subsidiary of Infrastructure leasing and Financial Services limited (IlFS), which is a public listed company with 80,000 shareholders in India and abroad. Senior advocate KK Venugopal who appeared for IlFS stated that the company has 472 staff and if they are prevented from collecting toll, these persons have to be removed. He requested the Court to allow collection of toll, that could be kept in a separate account. But the Bench felt that such an order cannot be passed unless there is any basis in the company’s arguments.