No toll on DND road: Allahabad HC

In a verdict that may bring relief to millions of commuters in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ruled no toll tax would be collected from those using the 9.2-km, eight-lane Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway.

The division Bench comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Sunita Agarwal passed the order while allowing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Federation of Noida Residents' Welfare Association.

The PIL, filed in 2012, had challenged "levy and collection of toll in the name of user fee by Noida Toll Bridge Company".

The high court had on August 8 reserved its verdict on the plea.

The judgment upheld the concession agreement but held the two specific provisions relating to levy and collection of fee to be inoperative and has directed the company to stop collecting the user fee thereby making the facility toll free.

In a more than a 100-page verdict, the court held, "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 said the "right to levy and collect user fee from the commuters as conferred upon the concessionaire under the concession agreement suffers from excessive delegation and is contrary to the provisions the UP Industrial Development Act".

In a statement to the BSE, NOIDA Toll Bridge Company said, "The company is in the process of filing an appeal with the Supreme Court. The rights of the company to the DND under the concession agreement remain valid and remain asset of the company."

The local resident welfare associations (Federation of Noida Resident Welfare Associations) had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Allahabad High Court challenging the validity of the Concession Agreement entered into between NOIDA and Noida Toll Bridge Company.

The company confirmed it had stopped collecting toll.

The court noted that "the Concessionaire, according to their own financial statements, has recovered Rs 810.18 crore (approx) from toll income from the date of commencement of the project till 31.03.2014 and after deduction of operation and maintenance expenses and corporate income tax, the surplus was Rs 578.80 crore (computed before interest, depreciation, and lease rental received by the Concessionaire)".