New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved orders on the petition filed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) challenging the Kerala High Court's judgment which suspended the toll collection in Paliyekkara toll booth in Thrissur district due to the bad condition of the Edappally-Mannuthy stretch in the National Highway 544.

The bench also heard the petition filed by the Guruvayoor Infrastructure Ltd, the concessionaire who is collecting the toll, challenging the High Court's judgment. During the hearing, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice NV Anjaria repeatedly highlighted the huge traffic block which lasted for over 12 hours on this stretch during the last weekend. Even on the previous hearing on August 14, the bench had expressed reluctance to entertain the petition, asking how the toll can be collected from the commuters when the road is not kept in a motorable condition.

As soon as the matter was taken, Justice Chandran told Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who was representing the NHAI, "You saw newspapers yesterday? There was 12 hours of traffic block."

"It was an act of God, a lorry fell down," SG said.

"The lorry did not fall down on its own. It fell into a pothole and got turned over," Justice Chandran said. The SG said the NHAI has constructed the service roads as alternative ways at the places where the construction of underpasses are going on; however, because of the monsoons, the construction was impacted.