New Delhi: The flyway connecting Delhi and neighbouring Noida will remain toll-free for commuters, with Supreme Court on Friday refusing to stay an Allahabad High Court order restraining Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited from levying the cess, saying it should not claim it has built "a road to the moon".
Singhvi said Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) is a company limited by shares and listed with stock exchanges here and abroad, including London, and permitting it to collect toll for one or two more months would cause no harm to anyone.
"The balance of convenience is in our favour as I have been collecting toll for last 15 years. If tomorrow it is held that I have the right to collect toll then we cannot go on chasing vehicles for the past toll," he said.
Referring to the terms of contract and accounting details with regard to the flyway, Singhvi said the High Court did not take into account all aspects and submitted that factors like interest on construction cost, depreciation and maintenance expenses, which comes to around Rs 12.5 lakh per day, have not been duly considered.
Singhvi said, "I don't mind any independent auditor of the court's choice for auditing the accounts and other aspects... we have to maintain the stretch as well. There can be a CAG audit."
He said the firm will be held liable for everything like accidents and maintenance, but the power to collect toll has been taken away by the High Court verdict.
"You are not telling your stand. Are you saying that the company has recovered enough and they should be out," the bench asked.
When the counsel said he had no written instruction, the bench shot back saying the authority was not taking the matter seriously.
The high court, on October 26, had brought cheers to millions of commuters ruling that no toll will be collected henceforth from those using the 9.2 km-long, eight-lane DND flyway. The order was passed as the high court allowed a PIL by the Federation of Noida Residents' Welfare Association.
The PIL, filed in 2012, had challenged the "levy and collection of toll in the name of user fee" by the NTBCL.
In an over 100-page judgment, the high court had held "the user fee which is being levied/realised is not supported by the legal provisions relied upon by the Concessionaire (Noida Toll Bridge Company), Infrastructure Leaning and Financial Services (promoter and developer of the project) and the Noida Authority."
It had said that the "right to levy and collect user fee from the commuters as conferred upon the Concessionaire under the concession agreement suffers from excessive delegation and is contrary to the provisions UP Industrial Development Act".
It had noted that "the Concessionaire, according to their own financial statements, has recovered Rs 810.18 crore (approx) from toll income from the date of commencement of the project till March 31, 2014 and after deduction of operation and maintenance expenses and corporate income tax, the surplus was Rs 578.80 crore (computed before interest, depreciation, and lease rental received by the Concessionaire)".
"They have further realised user fee/toll two-and-a-half years thereafter between April 1, 2014 and September 30, 2016 which, as per the collection of user fee in the year 2013-14 would work out to an additional sum of Rs 300 crore (approx).
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