In a relief to commuters, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay, at this stage, the Allahabad high court’s order quashing toll tax collection by the DND flyway connecting Delhi and Noida.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices D.Y. Chandra-chud and L. Nageswara Rao, while reserving orde-rs on the appeal filed by Noida Toll Bridge Compa-ny Ltd (NTBCL), indicated that it will appoint an independent auditor or ask the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit NTBCL accounts to verify whether it had earned profits as held by the high court.
Acting on a PIL filed by the Federation of Noida Resident Welfare Associati-on in 2012, challenging the levy and collection of toll in the name of user fee by the company, the high court on Wednesday held that collection of toll was illegal as the company had realised Rs 1,100 crore as against its initial investment of Rs 400 crore and directed the state government to ensure that it was not levied any further.
Appearing for the appellant company senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi argued that the company had not been able to recover the total cost of project and rate of returns, which includes a provision that the company will recover 20 per cent of total project cost per year from user fee. He said while the company should continue to maintain the flyway for another 15 years, without collecting any toll.
Counsel said that DND flyway was an excellent highway being maintained for over 15 years, the collection can be deposited in a separate escrow account as otherwise the appellant company will suffer irreparable loss.
