Decision on Paliyekkara toll revision in 3 days: Centre to Kerala High Court

The Central government today told the Kerala High Court that it will decide in three days on whether the toll rate should be revised at the Paliyekkara toll plaza on National Highway-544, where toll collection was earlier suspended by the Court on account of poor road conditions and traffic congestion [Shaji J Kodankadath v. Union of India and connected cases].

A Division Bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V Menon had initially planned on revoking the suspension on September 22.

However, it held off on pronouncing the order after reports surfaced about the collapse of a service road near Muringoor.

Today, Additional Solicitor General of India ARL Sundaresan appeared for NHAI and submitted that all conditions that were required to be complied with to resume toll collection have now been satisfied.

"Clear signs are kept informing of road works. Safety measures are in place. All conditions to permit toll collection have been met," he said.

Representing a contractor, Senior Advocate S Sreekumar added,

"There is no severe traffic congestion as before. It is a 65 kilometer stretch, and the issues are only in a 5 kilometer stretch."

The Court, however, then questioned why the Central government has not come out with a solution to tackle such issues, such as by modifying the toll rate to account for remaining road issues.

"Why is the Central government taking no steps? They should have assessed this and refixed the toll based on the fact that only 5 kilometers is affected. We are not experts. We had relegated the matter to you (Central government)," the Bench remarked.

"Centre will take a decision on this aspect," the ASG assured.

"We are not competent to decide the rate," Justice Mustaque added.

"We will take a decision in 3 days," the ASG replied.

Accordingly, the Court adjourned the case by three days, without lifting its earlier stay on toll collection.

The Court had passed the order suspending toll collection at Paliyekkara on August 6 after several petitions were filed highlighting several issues caused by ongoing overbridge works at various places on the NH 544, along the Edappally–Mannuthy stretch.

The NHAI subsequently moved the Supreme Court in appeal but the top court dismissed the appeal. It also asked the Kerala High Court to continue monitoring the situation closely.

After several hearings, on September 19, the High Court orally said that it would allow resumption of toll collection at Paliyekkara, subject to certain conditions.

This remark was made after reviewing the report submitted by the Interim Traffic Management Committee on the work undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on NH-544 to address the traffic and poor road conditions.

The Chairperson of the Committee, the Thrissur District Collector Arjun Pandian, had informed the Court that the NHAI had substantially complied with the directions of the Court as well as the issues raised by the petitioners.

However, the Court later held off on lifting its stay order, considering continuing complaints about the road's condition.

[Live Coverage]