Road users pay for what you get. Ruling this on Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) directed the Centre to charge just 20 per cent of the toll tax on a highway connecting two major cities in Chhattisgarh.
After a report submitted by a court-appointed committee found massive cracks and deficiencies in the 26-kilometre stretch, which is currently being repaired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Bench of Justices TS Thakur and Kurian Joseph agreed with the committee’s finding that, “Since the road is in bad shape, public should not be made to suffer at both ends — having to use the road and paying toll too.”
The concessionaire (DS Constructions) was collecting toll since June 13, 2006 although the work was complete only by January 14, 2008. The company had approached the apex court aggrieved by the order passed by the Chhattisgarh High Court which passed several orders in a PIl that highlighted how the vital road meant to drastically reduce travel time between Raipur and Durg had turned into a nightmare for travellers owing to potholes, sinking of road surface, choked drains and lack of vegetation on median strips.
Agreeing with the suggestion of the committee, the Bench directed the NHAI that till the stretch of National Highway 6 between Raipur and Durg was repaired, vehicle users should pay only 20 per cent of the toll rates. This would require cars to pay roughly Rs4, trucks Rs11, and buses and multi-axel vehicles Rs25, as compared to the original rates payable since 2006 that stood at Rs20 (for cars), Rs55 for trucks, and Rs121 for buses.
Although the Bench considered a total waiver of the toll, the report by the committee of experts comprising retired District Judge Arvind Srivastava, Chief Engineer DK Agrawal, and NHAI Chief General Manager Atul Kumar pointed out that though the damage is in parts of the section, the road was not “completely unusable”.
For this reason, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had issued a notification on March 2 this year reducing the toll for road users to just 40 per cent.
The Committee estimated the total repair work to cost Rs 19.38 crore. As an initial deposit, the concessionaire agreed to release Rs 11 crore (collection of toll) to the Centre for carrying out repairs, the bench left it to Centre to recover the remaining amount from the project proponent in the arbitration proceedings pending between both parties.
The Court even decided to crack the whip on overloaded trucks violating prescribed weight limits posing a major cause for wear and tear of national highways. The Court felt there should be a mechanism to rein in these trucks flouting the weight limits with impunity. Since this matter was a part of a PIl already being heard by the apex court, the Court directed transfer of the PIl pending before the Chhattisgarh HC and listed the matter for hearing after two weeks.
