BENGALURU: Taking suo motu cognisance of issues raised by commuters after the commencement of toll collection on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, the high court on Wednesday directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to file its response within three weeks.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi passed the order while hearing the public interest litigation filed in 2022 on issues such as lack of safety measures and signages for widening of the stretch of the national highway between Bengaluru and Kanakapura.
Referring to media reports, the court noted that issues such as commencement of toll collection without completion of work on the expressway between Bengaluru and Mysuru, improper functioning of boom barriers causing minor damages to vehicles at toll booths, and technical glitches in automatic fastag scanners have become a cause for concern. Because of glitches in fastag scanners, commuters are being forced to take the service road, thereby causing a delay.
Referring to the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, the court said the rules mandate various prerequisites, including issuing of public notice, before commencement of toll collection. But it appears that this has not been done before commencement of toll collection. Hence, all issues related to toll collection should be considered in public interest.
With regard to the PIL concerning widening of Bengaluru-Kanakapura stretch, the court appointed advocate Shivaprasad Shantanagoudar as its commissioner to inspect and verify the claims of petitioners and NHAI.