Court bars peak hour toll on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday ordered that no toll would be collected from private vehicles on the busy Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway during peak office hours in the morning and evening.

The high court division bench said that no toll collection would be allowed from private vehicles during peak morning hours 8.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and in the evenings from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. This will be followed till Oct 3 when the matter will come up for hearing here again.

The high court was not impressed completely by the measures taken by the concessionaire to end traffic snarls and harassment of motorists at the toll plaza.

With the latest directions of the high court, the toll-free drive for private vehicles through the Delhi-Gurgaon toll plaza has partially ended.

The high court had suspended all toll collections Sep 4 for 15 days and later extended it twice.

The toll collection was suspended following the failure of the concessionaire, Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited, to take steps to de-congest the busy expressway which was seeing huge traffic jams due to the toll plaza.

On Sep 20, the high court allowed the concessionaire to collect toll from commercial vehicles.

While directing the concessionaire to implement the steps to de-congest the expressway toll plaza, the high court appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice Mukul Mudgal as the local commissioner to inspect the new measures at de-congesting and report to the high court.

The toll plaza saw long queues of cars and other vehicles, causing traffic jams, throughout the day and commuters on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway were facing a harrowing time due to the traffic snarls at the toll plaza.