In its 2018 order, HC had said a citizen had a fundamental right to have good roads and footpaths
This picture has been used for representational purpose
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to file a compliance report within three weeks showing if and how it had implemented a 2018 HC order on repairing potholes on arterial roads in Mumbai.
A bench led by Justice AA Sayed was hearing a PIL that it had initiated suo moto (on its own) in 2018, and an intervention application filed by lawyer Ruju Thakkar.
Thakkar had also filed a contempt plea claiming that, by failing to implement HC's orders on repairing potholes and devising a uniform mechanism to redress citizens' grievances related to bad roads and potholes, the state and BMC had acted in contempt of HC orders.
Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, Thakker's counsel, told HC it was the statutory duty of authorities to maintain good roads.
Also read: Mumbai: Why aren’t our potholes getting filled, citizens ask
He said, 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 corporation and councils across the state. Dwarkadas said such a system was non-existent.
The HC then said, considering the gravity of the issue raised in the PIL, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni must represent the state in the next hearing.
In its 2018 order, HC had said a citizen had a fundamental right to have good roads and footpaths.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
