The Supreme Court on Monday made a strong observation on traffic congestion on national highways and asked the NHAI why commuters should pay toll tax if the traffic remains for 12 hours.
The apex court
was hearing a plea against the Kerala High Court’s order suspending toll collection at Paliyekkara in Thrissur district over traffic congestion and poor condition of the Mannuthy-Edappally stretch of the NH 544.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai, Justices Vinod Chandran, and NV Anjaria, reserved the order on the plea by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
During the hearing, Justice Chandran asked about the traffic for 12 hours on NH 544.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who was representing the NHAI, replied, “It was an act of God, a lorry fell down.”
Reacting to SG Mehta’s comment, Justice Chandran said the lorry did not fall on its own; it fell into a pothole before turning over, Live Law reported.
The SG said that service roads have been constructed by the NHAI to help commuters cross sections of road where construction for underpasses is going, but the monsoon has impacted work. He also pointed to a court ruling which mentioned proportionate reduction of tax instead of no toll.
However, Justice Chandran said, “For the 12 hour block, the National Highway should pay something to the commuters.”
“If there is no traffic, it will take maximum one hour to cover this stretch. If there is traffic, it will take maximum 3 hours. For 12 hours, there is no question of proportionate reduction,” Justice Chandran stated.
CJI BR Gavai also asked why a commuter should pay 50 Rs if it takes 12 hours for him to cross the stretch. “A road which is expected to take one hour, it takes 11 more hours and they have to pay toll as well,” CJI added.
In a ruling on August 6, the Kerala High Court observed that toll fees cannot be collected from the people when they are facing difficulties due to bad roads and consequent traffic congestion.
