Kerala High Court extends suspension of toll collection at Paliyekkara to Friday

The Kerala High Court has yet again extended the suspension of toll collection at the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) Paliyekkara toll plaza, up to Friday, stating that a decision will be taken based on the repair works carried out on the 65-km Edappally-Mannuthy NH 544 corridor.

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the ground-level traffic situation on the NH had improved substantially and that the suspension of toll collection for the entire corridor was causing financial and administrative difficulties for the NHAI. He said that the Centre was only empowered to issue policy directions to the NHAI and that it could not decide on individual NH corridors, since this could lead to a series of applications from across the country.

The Thrissur Collector, who appeared online, said that traffic congestion persisted at many parts of the NH corridor during peak hours, although the situation on the stretch had generally improved. The High Court directed the Collector to visit the affected areas and to issue necessary instructions to the NHAI.