National Highway Authority and PWD ordered to pay Rs. 50k to petitioner for not mending NH-66

National Highway Authority and PWD ordered to pay Rs. 50k to petitioner for not mending NH-66

The matter will be heard on 9 August

The Bombay High Court has imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 for litigation expenses on the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the state Public Works Department (PWD) for breach of their undertaking of repairing work of the Mumbai-Goa National Highway (NH-66).

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin M Jamdar and Justice Arif S Doctor noted that the petitioner had approached the Court complaining about the non-completion of work despite assurances. Also, a series of orders had been passed earlier by the coordinate benches.

In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the petitioner-lawyer Owais Anwar Pechkar, a resident of Chiplun City in Konkan, who commutes along the highway, alleged that accidents happen on the highway.

Pechkar also sought directions from the state government and NHAI to resolve the issues faced by the commuters. This included fixing potholes on NH-66, which is prone to accidents.

In 2022, the High Court observed that the pace of work to widen the highway, which had started in 2010, was ‘disappointing’ and directed it to be expedited.

Pechkar also submitted that in September last year, the Court asked the authorities to be “serious” about the issue of potholes on highways in Maharashtra and make coordinated efforts to ensure precious lives were not lost due to the poor condition of the roads. However, no action was taken.

Pechkar provided photographs captured on 2 July, showing potholes on the highway, and raised grievances, seeking speedy fixing.

On 7 June, NHAI filed an affidavit stating that it had decided to complete the balance work from 0 to 84.6 kilometres stretch of NH-6 pertaining to widening through the conversion of rigid pavements. The project was divided into two contract packages, to be completed within four weeks.

Accordingly, the Court had posted further the hearing to 5 July to monitor compliance with the commitment made by the authorities. But on the appointed date, the Court noted that the authorities breached their undertaking and two-year time to fix the highway was over. It sought to know if they had applied for an extension.

However, the NHAI lawyer submitted that while it should have sought an extension for repair work, the concerned contractor had stopped the work. He had moved the Delhi High Court challenging the show-cause notice issued against him for non-completion of work.

The Judges noted that several orders were passed by the coordinate benches of the high Court since 2018. But the authorities failed to complete filling the potholes within the two-year limit and no extension was sought by them.

The bench maintained the commitments recorded in previous orders must be adhered to by the authorities. It directed senior officers including the Project Director of NHAI and the Superintendent Engineer of PWD to visit the spots and conduct a survey and file a report before the Court within four weeks.

It further ordered the respondent authorities to pay Rs. 50,000 as litigation cost to the petitioner.