Noida toll company wants DND levy back; moves Supreme Court

The development comes a day after the Allahabad High Court ruled that commuters will not have to pay toll to cross the bridge.

New Delhi: The Noida toll company, which manages the Delhi Noida Direct (DND) flyway, has moved the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court order making it toll-free, a media report said on Thursday.

The development comes a day after the High Court ruled that commuters will not have to pay toll to cross the bridge.

According to the Indian Express, the Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) has appealed to the top court against the high court ruling.

On Wednesday, an Allahabad High Court bench comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Sunita Agrawal held that the “concession agreement” between the government and the concessionaire company IL&FS was “unfair.”

The bench observed since the NTBCL had “recovered all reasonable returns” from the bridge, it had no right to charge toll on the bridge.

The ruling came in response to a PIL filed by the Federation Of Noida Resident Welfare Association.

“The concessionaire, according to their own financial statements, has recovered Rs 810.18 crore (approximately) from toll income till 31.3.2014...

“and after deduction of O&M expenses and corporate income tax, the surplus was Rs 578.80 crores…

“They have further realised user toll two and half years thereafter, which comes up to around Rs 300 crore…” the bench held on Wednesday.

The court also struck down the section of the “agreement by which the toll company was calculating its costs and amount recoverable from user fee” the report said.

“The judgment has held the two provisions relating to levy and collection of fee to be inoperative and has directed the company to stop collecting user fee. In compliance, the firm has stopped collection of toll. But an appeal will be filed in the Supreme Court,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.