The complainant said that despite paying the toll, he was routinely subjected to pothole-ridden roads, broken surfaces, and severe traffic congestion, including prolonged disruption caused by a bearing failure at the GRT flyover at Hosur.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Krishnagiri, has held the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and its contractor, M/s. Shiva Buildtech Private Limited, guilty of “gross deficiency in service” for failing to maintain the Krishnagiri-Hosur toll stretch despite collecting crores of rupees in toll revenue.
In a significant ruling that upheld the commuter’s rights, the Commission, presided over by Judge R. Raja, directed the NHAI and its operations and maintenance contractor, Shiva Buildtech Private Limited, to jointly or severally pay ₹1,00,000 in compensation and ₹15,000 in litigation costs to a commuter. The consumer court also levied ₹1 crore in punitive damages on Shiva Buildtech, payable to the Legal Aid Fund of the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
The complainant was represented by advocates S.P. Sai Prasanthi, U.R. Marxin Prabha, and R. Gowtham Raj. The complaint was filed by P. Suresh Babu, a regular commuter between Krishnagiri and Bengaluru. He alleged that despite paying the toll, he was routinely subjected to pothole-ridden roads, broken surfaces, and severe traffic congestion, including prolonged disruption caused by a bearing failure at the GRT flyover at Hosur.
Citing the reply to a question under the RTI Act, the complainant pointed out that NHAI collected ₹919.91 crore in toll revenue from the Krishnagiri plaza between March 2021 and April 2025; yet, it failed to maintain the highway in motorable condition. He sought compensation and a direction to suspend toll collection until repairs were completed. NHAI argued that the complainant was not a “consumer” since toll is a statutory levy for a sovereign function, and maintained that all deficiencies had since been rectified, attributing delays to an ongoing arbitration dispute with the previous concessionaire, HK Toll Road Pvt. Ltd., and to the bearing failure, which it called an unforeseeable event.
The Commission rejected NHAI’s stand on maintainability, holding that toll collection in exchange for road use squarely falls under ‘service’ as defined under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, making commuters entitled to redress. A court-appointed Advocate-Commissioner R. Priya, who inspected the stretch, found severe cracks, substandard patchwork, waterlogged and neglected service roads, missing lane markings, and overgrown vegetation obstructing visibility, all corroborating the complainant’s case. The Commission also noted that NHAI itself had penalised Shiva Buildtech with ₹30 lakh for non-compliance with maintenance standards, undercutting its defence.
Holding the opposite parties jointly and severally liable, the Commission directed NHAI and Shiva Buildtech to pay the complainant ₹1,00,000 in compensation for mental agony and deficiency in service, along with ₹15,000 in costs. In an unusual move invoking punitive damages under Section 39(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, the Commission, noting that nearly 1.46 crore vehicles use the toll road annually, directed Shiva Buildtech and its associate entity to pay ₹1 crore in punitive damages to the Legal Aid Fund of the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
The Commission also directed the authorities to rectify all the defects identified in the inspection report within two months, deploy additional traffic marshals on accident-prone stretches, and install adequate warning and lane-discipline signage along the highway.
Published – September 22, 2026 09:02 pm IST
