Bombay HC to assign bench to hear case on pothole menace

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The Bombay High Court on Saturday said it will assign a bench for hearing a case raising grievances about potholes on roads in Maharashtra.

Advocate Manoj Shirsat approached the court on Saturday in the capacity of the officer of court, seeking urgent hearing on the issue.

In a letter to the court, the lawyer pointed out that loss of lives and property have been reported due to potholes, and by not complying with the court's orders, the authorities were violating the fundamental rights of citizens.

"I wish to bring to the notice of this court the severe violation of fundamental rights of citizens on account of non-compliance of orders and directions of this court, resulting in pothole problems all over Maharashtra and causing loss of life and property of citizens," the lawyer's letter read.

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The letter further stated that several accidents were taking place due to the poor conditions of roads in Mumbai and neighbouring districts.

The court then asked the lawyer to submit information he wants the court to consider and said that a bench will be assigned to consider the issue.

The matter was first raised in 2013, when the then Chief Justice Mohit Shah had taken cognisance of a letter by Justice Gautam Patel and instituted suo motu proceedings on the issue of potholes.

Patel's letter was converted into public interest litigation by a bench of Justices A S Oka and P N Deshmukh in 2018.

As per the high court's 2018 order, the state government was to set up a centralised grievance redressal mechanism, and file quarterly reports. This was in addition to independent grievance mechanisms for municipal corporations and councils across the state.

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The court had then directed that all the municipal corporations, MMRDA, MSRDC, CIDCO and MbPT and the state government should maintain the roads including footways/footpaths within the respective jurisdictions in good and proper condition.

However, after a year, Mumbai-based lawyer Ruju Thakker approached the high court alleging that the civic authorities had failed to implement the orders, it said.

The high court had earlier this year pulled up civic bodies, over non-repair and non-filling of potholes.

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