DND flyway to remain toll free as SC refuses stay, orders audit
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court allowed the DND flyway connecting Delhi and neighbouring Noida to be kept toll free for commuters and directed the country’s apex auditor to audit the project.
On Friday, a bench of justices JSKheharandLNageswaraRao asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to examine whether Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) has recovered its costs on the project.
The court also refused to stay the Allahabad High Court verdict restraining NTBCL from levying cess.
In the previous hearing, the bench indicated it would get the accounts of NTBCL examined by an independent auditor and decide on its appeal to set aside the high court (HC) order.
On October 26, the HC ruling that no toll will be collected henceforth from DND flyway users brought cheer to thousands of commuters.
When the counsel for the firm said the DND flyway was the best expressway, the court remarked, “You have just constructed a 10-km stretch and not a road to the Moon.”
Managed by NTBCL, the eight-lane 9.2-kilometre road connecting Noida with south
CAG HAS BEEN DIRECTED TO EXAMINE WHETHER NOIDA TOLL BRIDGE COMPANY LIMITED HAS RECOVERED ITS COSTS ON THE PROJECT
Delhi was opened on February 6, 2001.
The toll for a car was ₹8 for each journey. It was gradually hiked to ₹28.
Almost 150,000 vehicles ply on the flyway on a weekday.
NTBCL denied that it recovered returns, interests and cost incurred on the flyway’s construction and its maintenance, the reasons cited by the HC while scrapping the toll.
The HC order came on a public interest petition filed in 2012 by the Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Associations (NRWA). It claimed the company had already accumulated sufficient profits for undertaking construction of the flyway on a “Build Own Operate Transfer” but continued to charge ₹28 per trip from commuters illegally.
The HC faulted the Noida Development Authority for delegating the power to a private company to collect the toll fee.