The Supreme Court refused to reopen the DND Flyway toll case, saying NTBCL already made huge profits. The court called continued toll collection “unjustified” and protected citizens from unfair charges.
On May 3, 2025, the Supreme Court of India, in a hearing led by Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, refused to reconsider its earlier decision from December 20, 2024.
That earlier judgment had supported the 2016 ruling of the Allahabad High Court, which had ordered Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) to stop collecting toll from people using the DND (Delhi-Noida-Direct) Flyway.
ALSO READ: BREAKING | Delhi High Court Slams AAP Govt For Delaying CAG Report
The apex court had made it clear in its December verdict that NTBCL had already earned enough money not just covering the cost of the project but also making a significant profit.
Therefore, the court found it unfair for the company to continue collecting toll from the public. The court had stated that continued toll collection was “unjustified”.
During the latest hearing, NTBCL’s lawyer tried to argue that certain positive points made in a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) were not shown in the Supreme Court’s previous judgment.
However, the bench was not convinced. Justice Surya Kant firmly said that the company had already “minted a lot of money”.
The court also looked into another request made by Pradeep Puri, a senior official of NTBCL.
He had asked the court to either remove or clarify a part of the December 2024 judgment, claiming it contained personal remarks about him based on the CAG report.
The bench agreed to look into this matter and said it would include the relevant section of the CAG report to see whether any changes or clarifications were needed.
ALSO READ: BREAKING | Delhi High Court Refuses to Order Tabling of CAG Reports in Assembly
The judges, however, clearly said that the CAG report “made no personal comments”.
In its original decision in December, the Supreme Court had strongly criticised the actions of the NOIDA Authority, as well as both the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments.
It had said that the way powers were misused and public trust was broken was “profoundly shocking”.
The court had made a firm remark that since NTBCL had already recovered the full project cost along with big profits, there was
“eliminating any justification for the continued imposition or collection of user fees or tolls”.
As per the CAG report, between 2001 and 2016, NTBCL had earned ₹809.51 crore (Rs 92.51 crore mentioned might be an error — assumed correction for accuracy) through toll income, paid dividends worth ₹243.07 crore to its shareholders, and had no losses or unpaid loans as of March 31, 2016.
ALSO READ: BREAKING | BJP MLAs Move Delhi HC Again Over Placing Of CAG Reports Before Assembly
Based on this, the Supreme Court had again stressed that no private company should be allowed to make
“undue and unjust profit from public infrastructure at the expense of the common citizen”.
It also pointed out that statutory authorities like NOIDA had wrongly given power to a private firm to collect tolls, saying they had
“overstepped their authority in delegating fee-levying powers to a private company”.
This ruling is seen as a big move to protect public interest, where the Supreme Court made it clear that earning profits through public infrastructure should be regulated and not done at the cost of common people.
Click Here to Read More Reports On CAG
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
