New Delhi, May 16
The Supreme Court has sought a reply from the Centre and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on a petition seeking a stay on the tender process for collecting toll tax on the national highway between Panipat and Jalandhar.
The stay was sought in a special leave petition (SLP) on the ground that the NHAI had “failed” to utilise Rs 100 crore collected so far, on the maintenance and improvement of the road, which was in a bad condition and had developed potholes in the entire stretch.
Issuing notices on the SLP, challenging the Delhi High Court order rejecting a public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue last month, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Shivraj V Patil and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat has directed the Union Ministry of Road Transport and the NHAI to submit their replies within six weeks.
The notices were also issued to the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) and a private company —Shakti Kumar M Sancheti Ltd — which was given a year’s contract for collecting the toll tax on April 24, 2002.
The SLP was filed by a private society — the Foundation for Civil Liberties (FCL), whose PIL was rejected by the high court on the question of jurisdiction as well as in view of the apex court judgement in the Balco case stating that it was a policy matter not requiring the court’s interference.
Challenging the high court order, the FCL alleged that the NHAI on March 27 had issued a fresh advertisement for inviting a tender for the collection of toll tax on the highway without properly spending Rs 100 crore on its improvement by the government, collected as tax during the past one year.
FCL’s counsel Salman Khurshid argued that without providing “safety features” even on an important road like the National Highway No I, the government had “violated” the citizen’s right of safe travel.
Terming the toll tax as “unjustified”, the FCL said people from Haryana and Punjab, who were the most affected by the decision, had held protests against the “exorbitant” amount being charged for the use of the road. Rejecting the PIL, the high court had “failed” to appreciate that the cause of action in the matter arose in the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi as the ministry and NHAI are based in the national capital even though the stretch of the highway fell in the territory of Haryana and Punjab, the SLP said.
