Stop fee collection at Vandiyur toll plaza from today, orders High Court

A bunch of public interest litigation petitions filed by Immanuel of Madurai and representatives of the lorry owners’ association came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices M. Duraiswamy and T. Ravindran.

The petitioners claimed that after the Uthangudi-Kappalur ring road was converted into four-lane, toll plazas were being made operational at three locations, including Vandiyur, Chinthamani and Valayankulam. As per guidelines, there should be a distance of 60 kilometres between one toll plaza to another. But these three toll plazas were functional within a stretch of 27 kilometres. Hence, the petitioners sought the Bench to direct authorities concerned to scrap the Government Order allowing such plazas from collecting toll.

The petitioner’s counsel also argued that there is no adequate infrastructure facility available at the Vandiyur plaza. In response, the counsel on behalf of the Vandiyur toll plaza, said basic infrastructure facilities would be made available at the plaza within a period of four weeks.

After hearing, the Bench ordered to stop toll collection any further at Vandiyur. Moreover, the other toll plazas at Chinthamani and Valayankulam were also restricted from collecting fee from vehicle users bound through Vandiyur plaza. The order must be effected from February 27, the Bench said. The case was then adjourned to March 26.