The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court’s conclusion that the company had already recovered the costs, returns, and interest from the construction of the 8-lane DND flyway, and therefore, should not collect any further toll.
NEW DELHI: For thousands of commuters using the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway, the Supreme Court today (20th Dec) upheld the Allahabad High Court’s 2016 ruling, which directed the bridge company to stop collecting toll charges.
The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court’s conclusion that the company had already recovered the costs, returns, and interest from the construction of the 8-lane DND flyway, and therefore, should not collect any further toll.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that the company’s appeal lacked merit and criticized the NOIDA authority for delegating toll collection to the private entity, Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL), which led to unjust enrichment.
The bench further described awarding the contract to NTBCL as “unjust and unfair.”
Allahabad High Court’s Order
The Allahabad High Court’s order, issued in October 2016, had declared that no toll should be charged from users of the DND flyway, asserting that the toll collected over the ten years since the road’s opening in 2001 had been sufficient.
The order followed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Association. The 9.2-km DND flyway, managed by NTBCL, connects Noida with south Delhi and sees approximately 100,000 vehicles daily.
A division bench of Justices Arun Tandon and Sunita Agarwal passed an order allowing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Association.
The PIL, filed in 2012, challenged the “levy and collection of toll under the guise of a user fee by the Noida Toll Bridge Company.”
In a detailed judgment spanning over 100 pages, the court ruled that the user fee being levied was not backed by the legal provisions cited by the Concessionaire (Noida Toll Bridge Company), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (the project’s promoter and developer), and the Noida Authority.
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The court noted that the “right to levy and collect user fees” granted to the Concessionaire under the concession agreement was excessively delegated and violated the provisions of the UP Industrial Development Act.
The court also pointed out that, according to the Concessionaire’s financial statements, it had already recovered approximately Rs 810.18 crore from toll income between the project’s commencement and March 31, 2014. After accounting for operating and maintenance expenses, corporate income tax, and other deductions, the surplus amounted to Rs 578.80 crore (before interest, depreciation, and lease rental).
The High Court further noted that the Concessionaire had continued collecting tolls for an additional two-and-a-half years, from April 1, 2014, to September 30, 2016, accumulating an estimated extra Rs 300 crore.
“We are, therefore, fully satisfied that the Concessionaire can no longer collect user fees from the commuters of the Noida Toll Bridge and DND Flyover,”
the High Court concluded.
Case Title: Noida Toll Bridge Company Vs Federation of Noida RWASLP(C) No. 33403/2016
