Mumbai,jan.8 : Metro fares are likely to go up from Friday with the Bombay high court on Thursday giving the go ahead to Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) to charge fares in the range of Rs 10-40 for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Burgess Colabawalla dismissed the MMRDAs appeal against a single judge order that had rejected the agency’s plea for a stay on the fare hike. On Thursday the HC also rejected MMRDA’S request that the promotional fare of Rs 10- Rs 20 be continued for another three weeks to allow it to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.
On Thursday the HC also rejected MMRDA’S request that the promotional fare of Rs 10-20 be continued for another three weeks to allow it to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. In the HC MMOPL opposed MMRDAs plea for any continuation of the promotional fares.
A final decision on whether to continue the promotional fares beyond Friday is likely to be taken by MMOPL later on Friday.
The high court also directed the Metro Fare Fixation Committee – the panel set up by the Union Government to decide fares – to finalize the fare structure within three months.In case the fare structure finalized is lower than one proposed now by MMOPL, the benefits will be passed on to the commuters.
MMOPL which commenced operations of the Mumbai Metro in June 2014 had fixed the initial tariff range at Rs 10-40 for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route. But MMRDA took RInfra to the high court insisting that the Metro fares should be as per the concession agreement that set it between Rs 9 and Rs 13. Last year a single judge of the high court had rejected MMRDA’s plea for a stay on the fare hike, following which the agency filed an appeal.
