Shimla, June 1 Staying the toll collection for a day on the Parwanoo-Shimla highway, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the state government and the Centre.
A division bench of Chief Justice L. Narayana Swamy and Justice Anoop Chitkara passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by Adit Singal, who said the establishment of the toll plaza at Sanwara in Solan district was illegal and contrary to the National Highway Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules of 2008.
Quoting rules, he said no toll plaza could be established on the same section within a distance of 60 km. Other toll plazas are situated in Parwanoo in Solan district and Chandimandir in Panchkula district, both within the radius of 60 km from the Sanwara plaza, he said.
The petitioner also said the certificate of 95 per cent work completion by project executing agency G.R. Infraprojects Ltd has wrongly and arbitrarily been issued by the NHAI.
He said that the toll is being levied before the completion of construction work and major part of the construction work of flyover and its underpass in Kumarhatti, Saproon and Timber Trail Resort at Parwanoo are not complete and will take months or may be a year or more to be completed.
The petition says the public is compelled to pay toll for incomplete facilities that too, at exorbitant rates. Even the toll road has not been maintained properly and part of the stretch is accident-prone as there is no proper barricading along the road.
It prayed to quash the contract, construction and completion certificate issued to the company by the NHAI.
Meant to curtail travel time to the state capital, the four-laning work is part of the Parwanoo-Shimla highway expansion project that has missed several deadlines, officials told .
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