The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on a petition challenging the rule making it compulsory for vehicles without FASTag to pay double the toll tax.
The Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed both NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) to file response within four weeks and fixed April 18 as the next date of hearing.
Filed by lawyer Ravinder Tyagi through Advocate Praveen Agrawal, the petition sought quashing of a provision of the National Highway Fees (Determination of Rates and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2020 read with MoRT&H letters and NHAI circular, which mandated the commuters not having FASTag on their vehicles to pay double the toll tax.
Terming the rule as discriminatory, arbitrary and against the public interest, the plea contended that these rules and the circular had converted all the toll lanes to 100 per cent FASTag lanes with the consequence that commuters not having a functional FASTag were compelled to pay double the toll amount.
FASTag is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly while the vehicle is in motion. FASTag (RFID Tag) is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables a customer to make the toll payments directly from the account linked to it.
As per Tyagi, he was compelled to install a FASTag device in his car because of the compulsion of paying double the toll in cash.
The petitioner said that he had made a representation to NHAI and the concerned ministry, but was not satisfied with the response he got.
The petition sought direction to the authorities concerned to stop the practice of collecting double toll tax, saying it was violative of Article 14 (equality before law) and 19 (freedom of speech and expression) of the Constitution.