Madurai
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court dismissed a petition that sought a direction to the authorities not to collect toll at the Chittampatti toll plaza for those vehicles that use the State Highway 191 (Melur, Thiruppathur, Karaikudi, Pudukkottai, etc).
The court was hearing the petition filed by advocate R.M. Arun Swaminathan who sought an exemption of the vehicles using SH 191. He said that the vehicles proceeding towards Melur, Thiruppathur, Karaikudi, Pudukkottai do not pass through the entire stretch of the toll road.
These vehicles use less than 15 km of the road, but were compelled to pay the toll amount. An adjustment should be made so that the road users are charged according to the distance travelled by them and not the full distance, he said.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi took note of counter affidavits filed in the case that said the concessional rates of toll were available for different categories of road users who frequent the toll road.
If an individual had to frequently travel through the toll road but not the entire distance then a concession was given, the court was told. Taking note of the submissions made in the case, the court dismissed the petition filed by the advocate.
The court also dismissed a petition filed by S. Joel, who sought direction to the authorities to shift an existing toll plaza on the Madurai Thoothukudi expressway, to its original location as per the concession agreement.
