High court approves Mumbai Metro’s plan to keep Rs20 maximum fare till July-end

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, the operator of Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), has reduced the maximum fare on Mumbai metro rail by half to Rs20, beginning today (8 July) till 31 July.

The Bombay High Court on Monday accepted MMOPL's proposal to slash the fares of Mumbai Metro from Rs10-40 bracket to Rs10-20 till the month-end.

The promotional fare of Rs10 would end today and tickets would now cost between Rs10 and Rs20 compared with Rs10-40 announced earlier, MMOPL announced on Monday.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the government agency which is a partner in the consortium that floated MMOPL, had disputed MMOPL's Rs10-40 fare range.

MMRDA said the consortium had agreed on a structure under which fares were to be Rs9 up to 3 km, Rs11 for 3 to 8 km and Rs13 beyond 8 km. MMOPL, however, fixed the fares at Rs10, Rs20, Rs30 and Rs40.

Reliance Infra and MMOPL through their lawyers Iqbal Chagla and Janak Dwarkadas, respectively, have now informed the division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sonak that they will keep the fares at Rs10 for distance of up to 3 km, Rs15 up to 8 km and Rs20 for longer journey (up to 20 km) till 31 July.

The court adjourned further hearing in the case to 23 July. It also issued notices to the central government and Maharashtra urban development department on the point of formation of Fare Fixation Committee (FFC).

The court is hearing an appeal of MMRDA against the single bench order of the high court denying MMOPL and Reliance Infra on their right to decide fares.

The Ghatkopar-Versova Metro route was launched last month. MMRDA had challenged the fare hike by RInfra.

Justice R D Dhanuka had last month dismissed MMRDA's petition saying that as per the agreement between the parties, MMOPL had the right to decide the initial fares till Fare Fixation Committee decided them.

RInfra and MMOPL contended that despite their communication to the authorities in November 2013, the FFC has not been set up as the government has not yet nominated its member on the committee.

MMRDA lawyer Aspi Chenoy stated that FFC will be notified soon and within three months the fares will be decided and that the authority wanted MMOPL to continue with the fares decided in the agreement.

The single judge, while refusing to stay the fares, had observed that the agreement indicated that MMOPL is empowered to fix the fares till FFC is formed.