BackSC sets April deadline for panel to fix Mumbai Metro fares
Apex court directes committee to determine fares as required under the existing laws
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New Delhi: Attempting to strike a balance between public (commuter) and private (metro operator) interest, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the fare fixation committee (FFC) set up by the central government to take a decision on the fares of the first corridor of the Mumbai Metro line by the end of April. The court has directed the FFC to determine the fares as required under the existing laws.
In the interim, a bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant has directed the operator of the metro, Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd (MMOPL) to deposit 50% of the difference between the earlier fares and the fares presently being charged in the apex court on a weekly basis.
Lawyer P. Chidambaram, appearing for MMOPL, told the court it would amount to a deposit of 11 lakh per day. He also said the company was already incurring losses to the tune of 62 lakh per day, even with the increased fares. These figures were disputed by Mumbai Metro Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
The order came in an appeal by the MMRDA against an 8 January order of a division bench of the Bombay high court which upheld the hike in the range of Metro fares from 10-20 to 10-40.
MMOPL is a joint venture between the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra), which holds a 74% stake, and MMRDA, which owns the remaining 26%.
MMOPL has argued that the initial fares were merely “promotional" and due to an increase in the project cost, it was forced to revise the fares with effect from 8 January.
Advocate K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the MMRDA, told the court that MMOPL had unilaterally increased the fares and this was not in public interest.
The court has also issued notice to the central government. The matter will come up for hearing on 6 May.
According to the provisions of the Indian Metro Act, 2009, the developer is free to decide the initial fare, which in this case ranged between 10-20, and for subsequent fare revision, has to approach the FFC.
The 11.4 km rail corridor of the metro rail connects Versova in the west to Ghatkopar in the east and has a ridership of 262,000.
(Reliance Group companies have sued HT Media Ltd, Mint’s publisher, and nine others in the Bombay High court over a 2 October 2014 front-page story that they have disputed. HT Media is contesting the case.)
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