Keywords: death, motorcyclists, pedestrians, man-made, natural, potholes
The construction and upkeep of adequate roads is a constitutional requirement for state government and local governments, the Bombay High Court ruled on Friday.
Pedestrian deaths from falling into manholes or potholes are not caused by natural causes, according to a division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor.
“The deaths of pedestrians or cyclists falling in manholes or potholes is a man-made cause, it is not a natural cause. You not only have a constitutional duty under Article 21 but also a statutory obligation to supervise and monitor. All exercise need not be done by court. Why should we waste our time? It is your job and responsibility,” the Court said.
The comments were made during a hearing for a petition requesting the start of contempt of court proceedings for breaking a previous High Court ruling requiring all municipal corporations and the State government to keep streets and highways, including walkways, in good and suitable shape.
The Court had summoned the municipal commissioners of six corporations located in the Mumbai metropolitan area on August 9 due to its displeasure with the civic authorities’ inaction.
Accordingly, on Friday, every commissioner was present in court.
According to the commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), this year’s extremely heavy rainfall caused many potholes to appear over the course of five weeks.
The commissioner provided data on the road segments and potholes repaired this year.
“You (BMC) might have done concretisation of certain kilometres of roads till now, but that does not mean roads are not in good condition. Every day there are newspaper reports about bad roads and the net result is the same. I have been a student of statistics and there are three types of lies in statistics. Lies, damned lies and statistical lies. These statistics are not to be confused with the amount of work that needs to be done. If you see your own data, the rainfall has not increased much this year. The main cause is negligence and what is done with government funds,” CJ Upadhyaya orally remarked.
The commissioner was given the go-ahead by the bench to survey the roads under his control on-the-spot in the presence of a commission made up of two solicitors.
By September 29—the date of the next hearing—all firms were required to provide thorough compliance reports.
Written by: Sakshi Sinha, College: KIIT School of Law, Semester: 6th an intern under Legal Vidhiya
