Gurgaon expressway: Show us you are capable: High Court to operator, NHAI

Directing the Gurgaon expressway operator and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to show "satisfactory results" with their "revolutionary measures" to reduce traffic congestion at the Sirhaul toll plaza, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday said it would consider lifting the stay on collection of toll if these steps were to provide relief to motorists.

The division bench of acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain declined to vacate the stay until September 25 but allowed the concessionaire, Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL), to collect toll from commercial vehicles using the expressway Thursday evening onward.

To ensure an independent feedback, the court asked Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High, to inspect the expressway between 5 pm and 7 pm on Sunday and send a report. Justice Mudgal will be assisted by an independent consultant. The stay on collection of toll from commercial vehicles was lifted after the counsel for the South Delhi municipal corporation said the civic body was incurring a daily loss of Rs 25 lakh.

The court also told the concessionaire and NHAI to take immediate steps to reduce traffic congestion at the Kherki Daula toll plaza, warning that the court would be forced to pass orders and act if steps were not taken. The bench observed that often "traffic chaos" is witnessed at the toll plaza.

The court was not convinced by the claims of the concessionaire that effective measures had been adopted for smooth flow of traffic on the expressway. To persistent demands by the counsel for the concessionaire to lift the stay on collection of toll, the bench said: "So many claims have been made. Are you penniless? Show us you are capable." The bench was also not happy with the attitude of the South Delhi municipal corporation. "It was your duty to question the concessionaire after taking into account the public inconvenience. You have done nothing except overburden us with so many documents," the bench said.

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