On a Saturday morning in May 2026, Priya from Pune drove her hatchback through the Khed Shivapur toll plaza on NH-48 and watched ₹120 get deducted from her FASTag wallet, while the notified passenger car rate at that plaza was ₹80. The ₹40 extra was a wrong-class deduction, often triggered when the AVC sensor misreads a small SUV as an LCV. The fastest fix is to verify the notified rate on the NHAI Toll Information portal, raise a written grievance with the plaza concessionaire and IHMCL within 24 hours, dispute the bank-side debit on NPCI UDIR through your FASTag-issuing bank, and escalate to NHAI customer care 1033 plus the RBI Banking Ombudsman 14448 if the refund does not arrive in 30 days.
🟡 Citizen tip, Most weekend complaints fail not because the law is weak but because evidence gets lost in the first hour. Photograph everything before you call any helpline.
🟡 Most citizens miss this, Save the toll plaza Project Director's email from the NHAI plaza signage or the RTI portal, because a CC to the PD doubles your reply speed.
🟡 Citizen tip, Always send the IHMCL grievance and the bank dispute on the same day, because NPCI dispute timers and NHAI reply timers run in parallel, not in sequence.
To,
The Grievance Officer, IHMCL, New Delhi
The Project Director, NHAI [NH number, stretch name]
The Principal Nodal Officer, FASTag, [Issuer Bank Name]
Subject: Wrong toll deduction from FASTag at [Plaza Name] on [Date]
Refund of differential ₹[amount] requested under NHAI Toll Rules
Sir or Madam,
I, [Name], holder of FASTag tag ID [tag number] linked to vehicle
registration [number], a private passenger car, crossed [Plaza Name]
on National Highway [number] on [date] at [time]. The notified rate
for Car/Jeep/Van at this plaza is ₹[notified amount] per the Toll
Notification dated [notification date], yet ₹[deducted amount] was
debited from my tag wallet under transaction ID [txn id].
The excess deduction of ₹[difference] reflects an Automatic Vehicle
Classification misread. I attach the Toll Notification PDF, my RC
copy showing private car class, the deduction SMS, and the in-app
transaction screenshot.
I request a refund of ₹[difference] to the FASTag wallet within
seven working days, as required by the IHMCL Citizen Charter and
the NPCI Netc dispute timeline. A copy of this email is being sent
to NHAI 1033, the bank nodal officer, and the IHMCL grievance cell.
Regards,
[Name]
[Mobile, Email]
[Reference: IHMCL grievance ticket no. ____, bank dispute ref ____]
To,
The Central Public Information Officer
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
G-5 and 6, Sector 10, Dwarka, New Delhi 110075
Subject: RTI application under §6(1) of the Right to Information Act 2005
Wrong toll deduction at [Plaza Name] on NH [number]
Sir or Madam,
Under §6(1) of the RTI Act 2005, I seek the following information
in respect of [Plaza Name] on NH [number]:
1. Certified copy of the current Toll Notification issued under
the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection)
Rules 2008, listing rates for all vehicle classes.
2. Number of wrong-class deduction complaints received at this
plaza in financial year 2025 to 2026, plaza-wise and month-wise.
3. Standard Operating Procedure followed by the concessionaire and
IHMCL for refund of wrong-class deductions, with timelines.
4. Action taken report on IHMCL grievance ticket number [your ticket],
including dates of forwarding to the concessionaire and the bank.
5. Names and email IDs of the Project Director and Toll Manager of
this plaza as on date of this application.
I am an Indian citizen. The application fee of ₹10 is enclosed as a
postal order / IPO / UPI receipt. If part of this information is held
by another public authority, please transfer the application under
§6(3) of the Act within 5 days.
Regards,
[Name]
[Address, Mobile, Email]
[Date]
The Consumer Protection Act 2019 lets you file a complaint at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for claims up to ₹50 lakh, the State Commission up to ₹2 crore, and the NCDRC above ₹2 crore. The base court fee is ₹100 for claims up to ₹5 lakh. File online at https://edaakhil.nic.in. The cause of action is deficiency in service by the FASTag issuer bank and the toll concessionaire, jointly. Attach the IHMCL ticket, the bank dispute, the NPCI UDIR reference, and the RBI Ombudsman acknowledgement. The Supreme Court in Indian Medical Association v. V.P. Shantha (1995) 6 SCC 651 confirmed that any paid service falls within the consumer law net, which the 2019 Act carries forward.
🟡 Do this immediately, File the e-Daakhil complaint within 2 years of the deduction date, because §69 of the CPA 2019 sets a hard limitation period.
Login to RTI Wiki to download the printable PDF checklist for this article.
The NPCI Netc dispute window for FASTag is 90 days from the transaction date for chargeback, and the IHMCL grievance form has no fixed time bar but works best within 30 days. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 §69 gives 2 years to file at the consumer commission. The RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 allows complaints up to 1 year after the bank's final reply or 13 months after the original transaction.
Take the cash and still raise the IHMCL ticket, because cash returns are off-record and the AVC misread will repeat for the next car of the same model. Note the staff name and the lane number, photograph the cash, and mention both in the IHMCL form. The written record protects you and helps the next driver.
A FASTag tied to vehicle A but pasted on vehicle B is treated as tag-vehicle mismatch under NPCI Netc rules and the toll system charges the higher of the two classes, plus the plaza may flag the tag for blacklist. Move the FASTag to the correct vehicle and update Vehicle Class at the issuer bank within 7 days, otherwise refund claims for wrong deductions will be rejected.
Yes, the District Consumer Commission can award compensation for mental agony and litigation costs under §39 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, on top of the refund. Reasonable claims are ₹2,000 to ₹10,000 in routine wrong-class cases. Keep fuel bills, return-trip toll receipts, and any documented call records of the helpline interactions.
Under the RBI Master Direction on Customer Protection, Limiting Liability of Customers in Unauthorised Electronic Banking Transactions dated 6 July 2017, your issuer bank is the first point of liability for any debit from your account, including FASTag wallet debits. The bank may recover from the acquirer or the concessionaire later, but it cannot push the customer to chase the toll plaza on its own.
Yes. Open the FASTag issuer app, choose Tag Management or Vehicle Details, upload the RC, and select the correct class (Car/Jeep/Van for private hatchbacks, sedans, and most SUVs up to 6-seater). For commercial vehicles, the RC must show transport category. A class change usually reflects in 24 to 72 hours and stops repeat AVC misreads.
The double-fee rule for non-readable FASTag was relaxed in 2024. The current rule is single fee plus a small penalty if the lane was a FASTag-only lane and the tag was unreadable due to driver fault. If the failure was AVC sensor or low-light camera, raise IHMCL grievance with dashcam evidence and ask for the penalty to be reversed.
Yes, you can list multiple plazas under one §6(1) RTI to NHAI HQ, but expect the CPIO to transfer parts of the application under §6(3) to the relevant Project Implementation Units. To save time, file one RTI per NH stretch, addressed to the regional NHAI office, with a copy to the central CPIO at NHAI Dwarka.
A wrong toll deduction looks small at ₹40, yet it scales to crores across India every year and the refund stack is built into the rules. Verify the notified rate on the NHAI portal first, raise IHMCL and bank disputes the same day, push NPCI UDIR through your bank, and escalate to RBI 14448 and the consumer commission only if the first two tiers go cold. Keep every screenshot. The Citizen Crisis Response Network on RTI Wiki carries 100 weekend playbooks that follow the same evidence-first ladder. Move fast, write everything down, and never let a quiet ₹40 train your plaza to overcharge the next driver.