The Bombay High Court on Monday denied a proposed hike in fares by the Reliance Infrastructure-owned Mumbai Metro One (MMOPL). A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Mahesh Sonak said the report of the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) and R-Infra’s proposal to hike fares was “defective”. The FFC had recommended a price band of `10-110 for the Mumbai Metro Line 1 in July 2015.
The court asked the central government to notify a new FFC. The court said the new committee should decide the fare to be charged in the next three months. The bench said MMOPL could continue to charge the present fares and asked them to submit a statement on the “excess fee charged from commuters”. An MMOPL spokesperson, in an emailed statement, told FE: “We are studying the detailed order and based on the same, we shall take appropriate legal recourse.” Currently, MMOPL charges `10, `20, `30 and `40 for the 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route. It had proposed to raise the fares to `10, `20, `25, `35 and `45 for single journeys and return fares to `10, `20, `22.50, `30 and `35. In 2015, the high court, in an interim order, stayed the proposal. MMOPL challenged the order in the apex court where it was asked to approach the high court to decide on the matter.