Virudhunagar District Bus Owners’ Association has preferred a writ appeal challenging the October 31 order of a single judge who held as illegal the quantum of money collected by Madurai Corporation since 2005 from vehicles using the Ring Road here but refused to direct the civic body to repay the money collected illegally.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi on Thursday ordered notice to the Madurai Corporation and the Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, and adjourned the hearing by two weeks. The appellant claimed that it was unfair on the part of the single judge to have rejected the plea for refund.
Relying upon information reportedly obtained by it under the Right to Information Act, the association stated that the Corporation was entitled to collect toll only to refund the loan it had taken from Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund for laying the ring road.
A Government Order passed in 2000 authorised it to collect toll for 15 years or until the loan was settled.
Though the Corporation had to repay only Rs 64,05,22,304 including interest, it had so far collected Rs 120,78,82,710 by way of toll between November 1, 2000, and April 30, 2014, the association claimed.
Further stating that the ring road was in a battered condition and full of potholes, it said that officials were siphoning off money by claiming to be spending Rs 4.77 crore per annum towards its maintenance.
