The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the plea of Noida Toll Bridge Company ltd against an Allahabad High Court order making the DND Flyway toll-free. The company whose shares plunged by 20 per cent on the stock exchanges on Thursday has sought a stay of the HC order.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the toll agent and requested the Bench, headed by Justice AR Dave, to list the case for urgent hearing. The Bench asked the company to fulfill all formalities required to list a case on an urgent basis. When this was done, the court listed the case before the Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur.
The DND Flyway, a major link road connecting south Delhi to Noida and East Delhi since 2001, is facing a legal challenge from the Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association. The Association had approached the Allahabad High Court against the continued toll collection despite the recovery of construction cost.
Dealing with the PIl filed by the residents’ association, the HC said, “The user fee which is being levied/realised is not supported by the legal provisions relied upon by the Concessionaire (Noida Toll Bridge Company),
Infrastructure leaning and Financial Services (promoter and developer of the project) and the Noida Authority.” It further said that the right to levy and collect user fee from the commuters under the concession agreement “suffers from excessive delegation”.
As per the concessionaire’s own financial statements, it has recovered Rs 810.18 crore (approx) from toll income from the date of commencement of the project till March 31, 2014. After deduction of operation costs, maintenance expenses and corporate Income-Tax, the surplus was Rs 578.80 crore.
The company, however, maintained that it has the contract for operating the 9.2-kilometre stretch till 2031, and the contract could be extended for a further period of two years. According to the DND Flyway Director Monisha Macedo, the company was still trying to recover the cost of constructing the road. On the other hand, the PIl petitioners told the HC that till date, the total collection by way of toll added up to over Rs 2,000 crore, giving them enough returns beyond the cost of construction.