In a relief to commuters, the Karnataka High Court has asked the state government to stop collecting road tax for the incomplete Doddaballapur Road after two activists raised the issue with the court.
The commuters were forced to pay toll on the Bengaluru-Doddaballapur road even though only 50 percent of its work is completed. The HC has given a stay order on the redundant toll collection after two public interest litigations filed by social activist S Naveen Kumar and advocate G Venkatesh.
The petitioners claimed that the private company looking after the road works had given false claims as 75 percent of the construction was not completed as claimed in the provisional certificate. "Naveen, president of Social Reformer Samithi, contended that collecting toll without completing construction of the road is unconstitutional as well as illegal," reported TOI.
'Until further orders, stop toll collection'
According to the reports, the High Court on Monday (December 9) directed the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL), Aarvee Associates Architects Engineers Consultants Pvt Ltd and Yelahanka-AP Border Toll Ways Pvt Ltd, to stop toll collection until further orders.
The Karnataka HC had granted permission to collect toll after the state government claimed that almost 75 percent of the works were completed. The court had also asked the state to provide full details of the road works, which the government failed to provide.
