Mumbai metro fare hike case deferred till June 20

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday deferred the metro fare hike case till June 20.

Earlier, the court extended till April 12 the stay on the proposed fare hike of the Mumbai metro rail owing to the recent recommendations made by the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) constituted by the Centre.

The metro commuters have been paying existing fares after the High Court had on December 17, 2015, refused to allow its operator to hike fares owing to the recent recommendations made by the FFC.

It sought to hear the matter in-depth before finally deciding if the fare hike as desired by the Reliance-Infrastructure (RInfra)-led Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) is justified.

The FFC had allowed the MMOPL to charge a tariff of Rs. 10-110 for the 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro in July 2015.

Based on the committee's recommendations, the MMOPL had announced a maximum fare hike of Rs. five from December 1, 2015, taking its maximum tariff for single journeys to Rs. 45 from the current Rs. 40.

The three-member committee was constituted to resolve the long-drawn fare fixation issue between the state government's Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and MMOPL.