 bill no 49 of 1877 the national highways (amendment) bill, 1977 a billto amend the national highways act, 1956 be it enacted by parliament in the twenty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:-1 this act may be called the national highways (amendment) act, short 1977 title 48 of 1956 5 2 in section 7 of the national highways act, 1956 (hereinafter refer- amendred to as the principal act), in sub-section (1),-ment of eectiod 'i " j 10 (i) after the words_"the use of ferries,", the words, figure" add letters "permanent bridges the cost of construction of each of which is more than rupees twenty-five iakhs and which are opeaed to traftlc on or after tbe lst day 01 april 1976," shall be idaertecl; , (ii) the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-"provided that if the central government is of opinion that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, it may, by lijre notification, specify any bridge in relation to the use of which fees 15 shall not be leviable under this sub-section" amendmentot aectjon t 3 in section 9 of the principal act,-(i) for clause (b) of sub-section (2), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-"(b) the rates at which fees for services rendered in relation to the use of ferries, permanent bridges, temporary bridges and, tunnels on any national highway may be levied, and the lnlddr in which such fees shall be collected, under section 7;"; (ii) after sub-section (2), the followins sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-"(3) every rule made under this section shall be laid, as soon 5 as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree 10 in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modifted form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done 15 under that rule"  t in section 10 of the principal act, the portion beginning with the words and ftgure "and all rules made under section 9" and ending with the words "or the session immediately following" shall be omitted amen4-mem of sectiod 10 , section 7 of the national highways act, 1956, empowers the central government to levy fees for services -or berefits rendered in relation to the use of ferries, temporary bridges and tunnels on national highways 1'his ~~ction does not enable the levying of such fees on permanent bridges with a view to facilitating the raising of additional resources fur the development of national highways, it is proposed to amend the said section 7 so as to enable such fees being levied on permanent· bridges costing more than rupees 25 lakhs and opened to traftic on i)r after 1st april, 1976 it is also proposed to include an enabling provision to exempt any bridge from the payment of fees if it is considered necessary in the public interest 2 opportunity is also being availed of to make some consequential amendments in the act 3 the bill seeks to achieve the above new delhi; the 6th june, 1977 morarji desai clause 2 of the bill seeks to amend section 7 of the national highways act, 1956 so as to empower the central government to levy fees on permanent bridges also on national highways it is proposed to levy fees on all permanent bridges costing more than rs 25 lakhs and opened to traffic on or after 1st april, 197\ the collection of fees would necessitate the construction of fee collection booths, includini barracks type staff accommodation, improvement of roads, etc, near such fee collection booths though the cost or this account will be recovered from road users as investment forming part of the cost of the bridge, this will involve a non-recurring expenditure of ab-jut rs 5 lakhs per booth some staff will also have to be employed for the purpose of collection of fees the recurring expenditure on the employment of staff and' other incidental matters would be of the order of about rs 52 lakhs in the beginning for all the bridges to be covered by the proposed levy which works out to about rs 75,000 to rs 1 lakh per bridge on an average clause 3 of the bill proposes to amend clause (b) of sub-section (i) of section 9 of the national highways act, 1956, so as to enable the central government to make rules to provide for the rates at which fees for services rendered in relation to permanent bridges costing more than rupees 25 lakhs and opened to traftlc on or after 1st april, 1976 on any national highway may be levied and the manner in which such fees shall be collected 2 the matters in relation to which the power to make rules is propoled to be conferred on the central government are matters of procedure and detail the delegation of the legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character    (48 of 1956)     7(1) tbe;,c8ilualgovemmeet liuy,:by ~tiicatiod in tbe official gazette" levy: ,b"at, suchratea asmay ,be laid 'cipwn by rules made in thi behalfkar ,ryiees,or benefits rendt're4 10 relation" to the use of f~rrjes, temporary bridges and tunnels on national highways      f~es for 8ervices or benefits rendered on nation a1 highways t (1)      power to make rul (2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--    - (b) the rates at which fees for services rendered in relation to the use of ferries, temporary bridges and tunnels on any national highway may be levied and the manner in which such fees shall be collected;  -  -  laying of notificationa, rules, etc, before parlia ment 10 all notifications or agreements issued or entered into under this act shall be laid before both houses of parliament as soon as may be after they are isllued or entered into and all rules made under section 9 shall be laid for not less than thirty days before both houses of parliament as soon as may be after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications as parliament may make during the sesslon in which they are 80 laid or the session immediately following    - - -- - , , i , i  a billto amend the national highways act, 1956 (sh7'i moratji r desai, prime ministe'l',) 