Bombay HC to start hearing Metro fare hike final arguments from June 20

The Bombay high court on Tuesday fixed June 20 as the date to start hearing final arguments on petitions challenging decision of fare hike of Mumbai Metro.

The division bench of Chief Justice of Bombay high court D.H. Waghela and Justice M.S. Sonak said they would commence hearing final arguments on June 20 and continued the interim stay granted on the fare hike till than.

The bench has also issued a notice to the Attorney General as petitioners have raised Constitutional issues and argued that Indian Tramways Act would apply here and not Metro Act.

The court was hearing petition filed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Sanjay Nirupam city chief of Congress opposing the decision of fare hike.

The Mumbai Metro One Private Ltd (MMOPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Energy, which runs the Metro has claimed that it is incurring a loss of lakhs of rupees on daily basis and hence they need to increase fare to recover at least operating cost of Metro.

On the other hand MMRDA has opposed the hike, alleging that the Centre-appointed Fare Fixation Committee is facilitating profiteering by the operator by allowing multiple fare hikes. Mr Nirupam’s lawyer B.A. Desai has demanded that there should be a fare hike every four years, as per the original agreement, and not more frequently.

Senior counsel Aspi Chenoy, for the MMRDA, has argued that the original fare was fixed by an agreement between the MMRDA and MMOPL and it was estimated that the operator would have to bear losses for the first eight years and it would start making profits only from the ninth year.