SC tells Maharashtra, MSRDC & KMC to file affidavit in toll case

KOLHAPUR: The division bench of Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Uday Lalit of the Supreme Court on Monday directed the state government, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) to convey their stand over petitions filed by activists seeking the cancellation of toll collection started by the Ideal Road Builders (IRB).
The SC has started hearings of the petitions filed by Subhash Wani and Shivajirao Parulekar. The petitions were quashed by the Bombay High Court on October 14 last year. The HC had allowed the IRB to continue with the toll collection started in January 2014, despite agitations.
Representatives of the petitioners and the IRB were present during the hearing before the bench. Abhay Nevgi represented the petitioners and Fali S Nariman and Shivaji Jadhav represented the IRB.
"We maintained that the agreement with the developer company for the construction of 49-km roads in the internal parts of the city is illegal. The land measuring 3 lakh square feet transferred to the company was not according to the standards set for tendering. The land was transferred for just Rs 1 for 99 years and the land cost was not evaluated before transferring it to IRB," Nevgi said.
He added that it is the KMC's duty to develop the city's internal roads. "The civic body charges taxes from citizens to do so and therefore the project is illegal and the toll imposed to recover the amount is also illegal," he said. The petitioners were relieved after the bench admitted the petitions, despite the IRB's demands against this.
"The IRB counsel maintained that since the project started in 2008 and was completed, there is no point entertaining the petitions. They also said that the project was stalled several times due to violent agitations in the city," Nevgi added.
The petitioners have made the MSRDC, KMC and the state government party to the case as all these institutions were part of the agreement made for road construction. The SC will hear the case for the final time next month, for which the date is yet to be announced.
Kolhapur: The division bench of Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Uday Lalit of Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the state government, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) to convey their stand over the petitions filed by the activists seeking cancellation of toll collection started by Ideal Road Builders (IRB).
The SC has started the hearings of the petition filed by Subhash Wani (SLP (CC) No 2169/2015) and Shivajirao Parulekar (SLP (CC) No 2258/2015). The petitions were quashed by the Bombay High Court (HC) on October 14 last year and allowed IRB to continue with the toll collection started in January last year despite agitations.
During the hearing before the bench, the representatives of the petitioners and IRB were only present. Abhay Nevgi represented the petitioners and Fali S Nariman and Shivaji Jadhav represented IRB's case.
Nevgi while talking to TOI over telephone said, "We maintained that the agreement with the developer company for construction of 49 Km roads in the internal parts of the city is illegal. The land of 3 lakh square feet transferred to the company was not according to the set standards of tendering. The land was transferred for just Rs 1 for 99 years and the cost of the land was not evaluated before transferring it to IRB."
The lawyers representing the petitioners maintained that since it was the responsibility of the KMC to develop the internal roads of the city for which it is charging taxes from the citizens and therefore project is illegal and the toll imposed thereby to recover the amount invested for the project too is illegal. The petitioners were relieved after the bench admitted the petitions despite the demand from IRB to not take it on board since the petitions were quashed by HC on legal grounds.
"The counsel of IRB maintained that since the project was started in 2008 and has been completed there is no point in entertaining the petitions. Also, they maintained that the project was stalled several times due to violent agitations by the people of city," said Nevgi.
The petitioners have made MSRDC, KMC and state government party to the case since all these institutions were parts of the agreement made for the road construction. The SC is going to hear the case for final in next month, the date will be announced soon.