Stay on Mumbai Metro fare hike to continue for another month

The stay on the fare hikes of Mumbai Metro will continue for another month with the Bombay High Court today posting a bunch of petitions on the issue for hearing on April 12.

A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade was hearing the petitions, including one by MMRDA, challenging the report of the Fare Fixation Committee as well as the proposal by R-Infra run Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) to hike fares.

The court was also hearing an intervening application filed by Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam challenging the fare hike.

The high court had, in an interim order on December 17, stayed the proposed hike in fares of the Versova-Ghatkopar Metro Rail Corridor. Aggrieved, MMOPL, a subsidiary of Reliance Energy, which operates the Metro, moved the Supreme Court challenging the stay.

The Supreme Court, on January 27, refused to interfere with the order and asked the high court to take up the matter for final hearing.

The high court today said it will hear the petitions on the interim relief on April 12.

MMOPL, which is operating the Versova-Ghatkopar corridor, had earlier announced that it will increase the fares by Rs 5 from December 1, 2015.

Instead of the earlier slabs of Rs 10, 20, 30 and 40, the proposed new structure will have five slabs of Rs 10, 20, 25,35 and 45.

However, MMRDA, which has commissioned the Mumbai Metro, challenged the hike alleging that the Centre was
facilitating private profiteering by allowing multiple fare hike.