Recently, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court restrained the State Highways Department and the concessionaire from collecting toll at the newly-opened Vandiyur toll plaza after taking into account that there was no dedicated lane for emergency service and exempted vehicles.
Vandiyur toll plaza on Ring Road is one of the three new toll plazas apart from those at Chintamani and Valayankulam. All these toll plazas are located within a 27-km-stretch from the Sivaganga Road-Ring Road junction to Kappalur. The court had passed the direction on a batch of public interest litigation petitions.
In 2017, the Madras High Court, in its order, had directed that the concessionaire should provide an ambulance service with all facilities for emergency assistance which must be stationed at the toll plazas. Also, there must be a dedicated lane in both directions for ambulance and other exempted vehicles.
Further, the court had directed that boards be placed indicating the exempted lane and to fence it off with a chain to prevent other vehicles from entering it. The concessionaire must provide a complaints book which shall be regularly verified, the court said.
The contention of the petitioners in the present case is that the toll plazas are in proximity to each other and the guidelines given by the High Court for maintaining the toll plaza is not followed. With the land for the exempted lane yet to be acquired, an undertaking was given by the concessionaire that till then toll would not be collected at Vandiyur plaza and the loss would not be recouped at the other toll plazas.
The further contention of the petitioners is the very need for three toll plazas in the stretch. Commuters, students and the general public are affected by this arrangement, they said in their petitions.
They pointed out that as per Rule 8 of the National Highways Fees Determination of Rates and Collection Rules, 2008, there should be a distance of 60 km between two toll plazas. However, in the present case, this was not so.
President of Madurai Lorry Owners’ Association C. Sathiah says despite this stretch being busy as it is the prime link to Chennai from southern districts, there are no basic amenities such as toilets and drinking water at the toll plazas. There is no no parking bay for lorries on this stretch. If there is one toll plaza it is fine, but why three.
Advocate T. Lajapathi Roy is of the opinion that the Corporation should have taken control of the toll plaza instead of a concessionaire. But then when the government collects road cess, why it collects toll too.
The Kappalur issue
This is not the first time that the High Court has restrained the concessionare from collecting toll. In 2018, a public interest litigation petition was filed before High Court Bench complaining of the bad condition of roads in Kappalur. After the condition of the road was ascertained by the High Court, a Division Bench of the court directed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the concessionaire to slash the toll by 50%.
The court held them accountable for the bad condition of the highway from Madurai to Virudhunagar and ordered that till that stretch was repaired and rendered safe for vehicle users, only the reduced toll fee should be collected. The court observed that roads should be maintained in accordance with standards stipulated by the Indian Road Congress.
The High Court has adjourned the Vandiyur toll plaza case to March 26 to hear further arguments.