The Bombay High Court on Monday expressed that it is considering reopening the main PIL which highlighted the bad conditions of city roads.
A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar made the remark after it was informed that a lady died after drowning in an open manhole last week during heavy rains.
The HC, had in July, “closed for orders” the contempt petition filed by advocate Ruju Thakker seeking contempt action be initiated against the civic authorities for failing to implement the high court orders of 2018 directing the repair of potholes along all arterial roads in Mumbai and neighbouring areas.
On Monday, Thakker informed the bench that during the heavy rains which flooded the city on September 25, a woman died after falling in an open manhole. “The BMC has earlier said that they have covered all the manholes with grills,” Thakker said.
The CJ SK asked Thakker to wait for 2-3 days saying it plans to reopen the main petition. “We plan to reopen the main PIL… for the reasons that despite issuing orders after orders in contempt petition, they are not complied,” the CJ said.
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Based on a letter by Justice Gautam patel (now retired), the HC had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the issue of potholes in the city, and passed a detailed judgment in 2018 laying guidelines for the BMC to follow to keep the roads pothole free. Unfortunately, the directions in the judgemnt were not fully complied with, hence Thakker had filed the contempt petition in 2019. She sought action against the civic authorities for failing to provide Mumbaikars with good, motorable city roads.
Ever since, the HC has been monitoring the progress of road condition in the city, including filling of potholes, covering of manholes and the progress of the concretisation of the roads. It had also monitored deaths of bikers killed after road accidents due to potholes.
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The judges had expressed exasperation in monitoring every road accident which is caused due to potholes, and said that ultimately it was the responsibility of the BMC to ensure that citizens get motorable roads and pedestrian friendly footpaths. During one of the hearings, the CJ had pointed out to the BMC, from its affidavit, that it spends Rs273 crore to attend to potholes.