CHENNAI: The two toll plazas on the Maduravoyal-Ranipet section of the Chennai-Bengaluru highway will continue to collect only 50% of the toll, as the Madras high court has refused to reconsider its order reducing the user fee citing pathetic road condition.
Dismissing review applications moved by the NHAI, a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice A A Nakkiran said: “This court has noted with anguish that the NHAI, which is a premier agency for construction and maintenance of all-weather roads, is not even in a position to maintain the road in question and it is full of potholes, without any signage and even the median is not also maintained in proper condition, endangering the lives of the road users.”
Though NHAI would submit that patch and repair work of the road has begun in the light of monitoring being done by this court and that the order which is sought to be reviewed causes great financial hardship to NHAI, it is the considered opinion of the court is that such submission lacks merits and substance, the bench said. The stretch between Maduravoyal and Walajah is in a pitiable condition and only due to the monitoring by this court patch work has been done and it is not up to the standard laid down by the Indian Road Congress, the court added.
“The only explanation offered is since a six-lane work is going on, there is no useful purpose in relaying the four lanes. It is to be noted at this juncture, even in respect of the six lane work this court in its earlier order noted, there is already a cost and time over which the road users cannot be put to peril and danger. No factual or legal tenable grounds has been made out to review the order, therefore the review application is dismissed,” the bench said.
On December 9, 2020, taking a serious view of the pathetic condition of the national highway between Maduravoyal and Walajapet, the court penalised NHAI and directed it to collect only 50% of the user fee in two toll plazas located in the stretch.
Aggrieved, by the order, NHAI moved the present review application claiming that the authority is suffering losses of over Rs 16 lakh per day in view of the order.