[Aditya]

The Supreme Court of India has said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and concessionaires cannot collect toll from road users if the road is not in good condition. In many parts of the country, toll is being collected even if the roads are not properly maintained.

Recently, a case relating to National Highway 53 was presented before the Supreme Court. The 26 km stretch between Raipur and Durg in Chhattisgarh was inspected upon the order of the court. The report suggested that the road was in dilapidated condition, which resulted in the apex court ruling that the NHAI and concessionaires could not collect toll from users. The Court instructed the concessionaire to refund the Rs. 11 crore that it had collected as toll to the central government.

The central government, which had taken over the road from the private party in March, said that it had reduced the toll on the road by 60% and that not all parts of the road were bad. As a result, the court decided that toll could be collected on the road. However, the new rate would be 20% of the earlier amount.

The court has also said that there is a need to penalize overloaded heavy vehicles, which are a main cause of roads suffering damage.

Source: Times of India

[Shadowspy]

A commendable action taken by the Supreme Court. However, I wonder why the Supreme Court is being forced to step into such matters. Shouldn't our government be doing this. There should be a system in place auditing toll collection and checking if the proceeds are being used for road maintenance.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by Aditya

The Supreme Court of India has said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and concessionaires cannot collect toll from road users if the road is not in good condition. In many parts of the country, toll is being collected even if the roads are not properly maintained.

Supreme Court to our rescue! I have wondered so many times how toll can be collected on roads that are no better and sometimes worse than state highways that are not charged.

Occasionally one wonders whether the toll is for the road that one has already travelled or the one beginning, because the tolled road bears no distinction at all!

Really need some sort of regular inspection and feedback method to fix and remove toll as required as a follow up to this welcome ruling.

[StarrySky]

I like the spirit of this judgment, but I think it is a grey area how a road will be classified as in "good condition" or "bad condition". If this is not clearly defined, this will become another avenue for corruption.

[Engine_Roars]

So, does this mean that Government will be bound to remove the toll booths from roads which are not in good condition? If so, a great move and if not, I am not sure if I will fight with those Toll both thugs(Often owned/controlled by some powerful Government's official relatives) if I did not find the roads good enough to deserve toll charges. I will still prefer paying the toll, over getting into a mess specially if I have my family with me.

[hybridpetrol]

There is a possibility that even after a road is deemed as unfit for toll collection, the toll booths can still collect the same previous rates from the road users. There has been several instances where for the roads built on BOT schemes, the infrastructure companies continued collecting toll for several years after the stipulated time period for collecting toll is over.
Such things should not happen here.
If it is found that there is no need to collect toll, the toll booths should be removed or sealed, or if the toll that should be collected should be less, then the same information should be displayed on their boards, and should be available online as well.
Its a supreme court order, and there should be action on it from central and state governments to follow through.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

I like the spirit of this judgment, but I think it is a grey area how a road will be classified as in "good condition" or "bad condition". If this is not clearly defined, this will become another avenue for corruption.

I don't think it's that difficult . no potholes, well lit road, clear divider markings and regular lay by areas. I am sure everyone has different definitions but for a highway, I think these are basic necessities.

[ssambyal1980]

This is indeed a very good step by the apex court. One more highway which qualifies for no toll is the stretch of NH 1 between Panipat and Jalandhar. The NHAI is carrying on the work to six lane this 291 kms stretch of the grand trunk road since last 5-6 years and it's still far from being complete. Still a lot of flyovers are incomplete and many times during the journey the traffic has to take detours on to the service roads, which are always chock a block with all kinds of vehicles. With lot of heavy vehicles plying, the traffic conditions are pretty bad. And to make the matters worse, the commuters are made to shell out substantial amounts as tolls literally for bearing with inconvenience.

Checkout the following link for more info on this:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/chandi...1-1298108.aspx

[VW2010]

And can someone also tell the Tamil nadu GOVT that collecting toll inside your city in the OMR is ridiculous and absolutely stealing from common man.

I still cannot believe the IT Corridor is not ready to fight this.

I find all possible ways to avoid toll in that road, if that requires me to take strange routes

I perfectly agree to pay toll from Chengelput all the way down south. WELL maintained roads. But OMR..Thats insane.

[drhoneycake]

Although NICE road does not come under the jurisdiction of the NHAI, the Supreme Court should definitely ask NICE authorities to stop collecting toll on that road.

Agreed that the road is a boon for bypassing Bengaluru City, but the road condition off late is truly terrible - patchy, bumpy, uneven, now small potholes, not even lit up, absence of road markings and poor sign boards , the toll amount collected for all this is way too high.

120 rupees for a 35 km stretch between BG Road (Gottigere) and Tumkur Road on that kind of pathetic roads is daylight robbery. 😡

Not even NHAI with better asphalt and overall better highways charges so much.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by Aditya

The Supreme Court of India has said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and concessionaires cannot collect toll from road users if the road is not in good condition.

I say, about time !
And I hope it's amended to include interior roads in cities as well.
Road tax should not be collected until the roads are fixed.
I mean, this is 2015, why does freshly laid tarmac still last just 2 weeks here !?!

[sourav9385]

Now THAT judgement is bound to raise some eyebrows, and fasten some heartbeats, if not cause any heart attacks among the road building-toll hogging mafia!

I've never been a fan of paying a toll anywhere.

Just this time, we traveled from Chennai to Thrissur, we ended up paying Rs 544/- in toll booth across the route!

A little more, and I could've gotten half a tank of diesel for my car!

It's not like the people who made the road were not compensated enough for making it in the first place

It doesn't matter whether the roads are good or not, paying toll for driving on a road is a concept totally lost on me.

Why should I pay extra money to drive my vehicle on roads inside my state?

I paid the road tax, so why do I need to pay extra for driving on the roads, good or bad?

We should not have to pay toll for driving on any roads inside the state our vehicle is registered, good road or bad.

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by drhoneycake

Although NICE road does not come under the jurisdiction of the NHAI, the Supreme Court should definitely ask NICE authorities to stop collecting toll on that road.

Agreed that the road is a boon for bypassing Bengaluru City, but the road condition off late is truly terrible - patchy, bumpy, uneven, now small potholes, not even lit up, absence of road markings and poor sign boards , the toll amount collected for all this is way too high.

120 rupees for a 35 km stretch between BG Road (Gottigere) and Tumkur Road on that kind of pathetic roads is daylight robbery. 😡

Not even NHAI with better asphalt and overall better highways charges so much.

Totally agree. Not just the road condition right...the way the traffic is regulated at the toll booths and long queues daily... Not to mention the pathetic trucks driving on the right lane blocking the free movement of traffic and no one to regulate them?

Why can't we have something like what we have on the house express way with automated reader etc ?

Btw I guess NICE is trying to recover all the money lost in court cases battling the state government and hence the high charges.

[MSC]

Yet again the judiciary comes to rescue of common citizens. It is a norm to see heavy toll collection on roads which are not fit to be called road at all.
Regarding the view on overloaded HCVs, any one who has used NH 21 Chandigarh to Manali knows very well how it feels to be stuck behind a cement loaded multiaxle truck spewing noxious smoke. The traffic police neither asks for PUC nor ever bothers to check if the vehicle is overloaded or not.
The situation is not much different in other parts of country.
Hope at least now law enforcement agencies wake up and make our lives a bit better.

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by MSC

Any one who has used NH 21 Chandigarh to Manali knows very well how it feels to be stuck behind a cement loaded multiaxle truck spewing noxious smoke.

You have very well remarked sir. Although the Himachal Pradesh stretch of NH 21 is toll free but still driving or travelling on this road especially between Swarghat and Barmana is an absolute nightmare. Have driven a number of times, on this stretch since last 12 years on way to Kullu.

The condition of the highway has gone from bad to worse in last 10 years, which can't be helped as it is heavily infested with trucks moving to and fro from ACC and AMBUJA cement plants. Apart from this the tourist traffic has also increased substantially but the NHAI has never bothered to take stock of the situation.

Thankfully the four laning project has started, so hopefully things will improve in future. Till then there is no other option but to silently bear the torture. Nonetheless to avoid this stretch I have started taking the Ghagas-Brampukhar-Bharadighat-Kunihar-Subathu-Dharampur-Parwanoo route to commute.