The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the National Highways Authority of India to track vehicles parked on highways. The bench said, "Why can't the NHAI, which has got all the resources with it, have some kind of an electronic surveillance mechanism?" This follows a fatal accident in Rajasthan's Phalodi area.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked why the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) cannot put in place an electronic surveillance system to immediately track vehicles that are stationary or parked on highways. The court made the observation while hearing a suo motu case linked to a road accident in Rajasthan's Phalodi area in which 15 people were killed.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta raised the issue after senior advocate ANS Nadkarni, appearing as amicus curiae, referred to recent accidents caused by vehicles parked on highways. The court later posted the matter for October 13 and said it would take up applications related to the removal of encroachments from highways.
"Why can't the NHAI, which has got all the resources with it, have some kind of an electronic surveillance mechanism by which any vehicle found stationary or parked on the highways be immediately tracked," the bench observed. One of the advocates appearing in the matter said the NHAI carries out patrolling on highways. The bench was also told that several interlocutory applications have been filed in the case.
When the matter was heard in September, the court had flagged the issues of encroachment and stationary vehicles on highways. Counsel for the NHAI had then said circulars had been issued for regular inspection and patrolling to check unauthorised parking on highways. The amicus had said illegal parking of vehicles on highways was one of the major issues leading to road accidents.
The top court had taken suo motu cognisance in November of the November 2 accident in Phalodi, in which a tempo traveller rammed into a stationary trailer truck. The incident took place near Matoda village on the Bharat Mala Highway when the tempo traveller was travelling from Kolayat temple in Bikaner to Jodhpur.
On April 13, the court issued a series of interim directions, including that no heavy or commercial vehicle should park or stop on any national highway carriageway or paved shoulder except at a designated bay, lay-bye or wayside amenity. It also barred the construction or operation of any new dhaba, eatery or commercial structure within the right of way of any national highway.
The court further directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the NHAI to identify accident blackspots and critical areas and publish a comprehensive list of accident blackspots on national highways.
"It is seen that national highways constitute approximately 2 per cent of India's total road length but account for nearly 30 per cent of all road fatalities. A road, particularly a high-speed expressway, must not become a corridor of peril due to administrative lethargy or infrastructural gaps," the court had said.
The case will now be taken up on October 13 as the court continues to examine safety concerns, encroachments and unauthorised parking on national highways.