Krishnagiri Consumer Court orders NHAI contractor to pay ₹1 lakh to commuter, ₹1 crore as damages

The complainant said that despite paying the toll, he was routinely subjected to potholes, broken surfaces and major traffic jams, including prolonged disruption caused by a bearing failure on the GRT flyover at Hosur. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Krishnagiri, held that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and its contractor, M/s. Shiva Buildtech Private Limited, guilty of “gross deficiency in service” for not maintaining the Krishnagiri-Hosur toll road section despite collecting crores of rupees in toll revenue.

In a landmark decision that upheld commuters’ rights, the Commission, presided over by Justice R. Raja, ordered NHAI and its operations and maintenance contractor, Shiva Buildtech Private Limited, to jointly or severally pay ₹1,00,000 as compensation and ₹15,000 as litigation costs to the commuter. The consumer court also imposed a compensation of ₹ 1 crore on Shiva Buildtech to be paid to the Legal Aid Fund of the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

The appellants were represented by advocates SP Sai Prasanthi, UR Marxin Prabha and R. Gowtham Raj. The complaint was filed by P. Suresh Babu, a regular commuter between Krishnagiri and Bengaluru. He claimed that despite paying tolls, he was routinely subjected to potholes, broken surfaces and major traffic jams, including prolonged disruption caused by bearing failure on the GRT flyover near Hosur.

In response to a query under the RTI Act, the complainant pointed out that NHAI had collected ₹919.91 crore toll revenue from Krishnagiri Square from March 2021 to April 2025; however, it failed to keep the highway in serviceable condition. He sought compensation and a direction to suspend toll collection until the repairs were completed. NHAI argued that the complainant was not a “consumer” as the toll was a statutory charge for a sovereign function and claimed that all deficiencies had since been rectified, attributing the delay to an ongoing arbitration dispute with the previous concessionaire, HK Toll Road Pvt. Ltd., and for bearing failure, which it described as an unforeseeable event.

The commission rejected NHAI’s maintainability stand, saying that collection of toll in exchange for use of roads squarely falls under “service” as defined in the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, making commuters entitled to a remedy. Court-appointed Advocate-Commissioner R. Priya, who examined the stretch, found severe cracks, inadequate patching, waterlogged and neglected service roads, missing lane markings and overgrown vegetation obstructing visibility, all of which corroborated the complainant’s case. The commission also noted that NHAI itself had penalized Shiva Buildtech with a sum of ₹ 30 lakh for non-compliance with maintenance norms, undermining its defence.

Holding the opposite parties jointly and severally liable, the Commission ordered NHAI and Shiva Buildtech to pay ₹1,00,000 to the complainant as compensation for mental anguish and deficiency in service along with costs of ₹15,000. In an unusual step, invoking punitive damages pursuant to § 39 para. 1 letter (d) of the Consumer Protection Act, the Commission, noting that nearly 1.46 lakh vehicles use the toll road annually, ordered Shiva Buildtech and its associate to pay ₹1 crore as 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 defects found in the inspection report within two months, deploy additional traffic marshals on accident-prone stretches and install adequate warning and traffic lanes on the highway.

Published – 22 Sep 2026 21:02 IST