The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flight will be free as it dismissed a private carrier’s plea against a 2016 Allahabad High Court order asking it to stop collecting passenger fares.
This decision will benefit millions of people who travel daily on the flyway.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan held that awarding the contract to private company Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) to collect toll from passengers traveling on the DND flight was unfair, unjust and culpable.
“There is no reason to continue the collection of user fees or toll. We hold that the agreement (toll collection) is invalid,” said the bench.
It has accused the NOIDA authority of handing over toll collection to a private company NTBCL, which had no previous experience and said it led to unjust enrichment.
The bench said that NOIDA had exceeded its authority by delegating the power to NTBCL to collect or levy the toll and it had resulted in the public being deprived of hundreds of rupees.
The apex court, in October 2016, had ruled that no toll would be collected henceforth from those using the 9.2 km long, eight-lane Delhi-Noida Direct flyway. The order was passed as the high court allowed the PIL of the Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Association.
The PIL, filed in 2012, had challenged the “taxation and collection of tax on behalf of the user fee by the Noida Toll Bridge Company”.
In a more than 100-page judgment, the apex court had ruled that, “the toll/receipt is not supported by the legal provisions relied upon by the Concessionaire (Noida Toll Bridge Company), Infrastructure Leaning and Financial Services (the promoter. and the project engineer) and the Noida Authority.” It had said “the right to charge and collect user fee from passengers as given to the Licensee under the concession agreement is over-delegating and contrary to the provisions of the UP Industrial Development Act”.