Public Accounts Committee asks Centre to review toll tax rule for National Highways 

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee directs government to review toll tax rules on National Highways for efficiency and fairness.

The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, headed by senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal, at a meeting held on Wednesday (February 12, 2025), directed the government to review the existing rules that decide the toll tax on National Highways (NH). 

The panel began deliberations on the subject of ‘Levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges etc. on public infrastructure and other public utilities’. 

The current toll taxes are levied based on the base rate of fee per kilometre as prescribed by the NH Fee Rules, 2008. Since vehicular traffic on the road has exponentially increased since 2008, the panel directed the Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, V. Umashankar; National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairperson Santosh Kumar Yadav, and other officials who deposed before the panel, to review the rules.

“The base rates should be lowered considering there are more vehicles plying on the road and, therefore, the revenue collection is higher,” one of the panel members said. 

The members also flagged that many of the concessionaires do not keep their side of the agreement, which includes maintenance of the road, identifying high-risk intersections, managing black spots, and providing passenger amenities, including rest stops, and medical help in case of accidents.

The long traffic jams at the toll gates, despite the introduction of FASTags, were also discussed. The example of the Paliyekkara Toll Plaza at the Thrissur-Edapally section of National Highway 544 was also cited, as the concessionaire was not following the agreement. 

The Union government has said that it is now running a pilot project with ‘Automatic Number Plate Recognition’ at the Panipat-Jalandhar and Surat-Bharuch highways, and the Dwarka Expressway. This will enable barrier-free driving on highways. However, sources said, several members had expressed reservation about this, and highlighted possible privacy violations.