S. Rajaseekaran vs. Union Of India And Ors. Ministry Of Road Transport And Highways Secretary

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 295/2012

S.RAJASEEKARAN Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. & ORS. Respondent(s)

Date : 06-12-2018 This petition was called on for hearing today.

• CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA
• For Petitioner(s) Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Adv. (AC)
  • Mr. Krishna Kumar, AOR Ms. Srujana Suman Mund, Adv.
• For Respondent(s) Mr. G.S. Makker, AOR. [NP]
• IRDA Mr. Dipak K. Nag, Adv. Mr. Ekansh Bansal, Adv. Mr. Akhil Sharma, Adv.
  • Mr. Parmanand Gaur, Adv.
• NALSA Ms. Anitha Shenoy, Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, Adv.

For States of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Adv. Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv.

Arunachal Pradesh Mr. Anil Shrivastav, Adv. Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv. Mr. Satyendra Kumar Srivastav, Adv. Assam Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv. Mr. Somnath Banerjee, Adv. Bihar Ms. Abha R. Sharma, Adv. Mr. D.S. Parmar, Adv. Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Mahendra Singh, Adv.

Goa	Mr. A.N.S. Nadkarni, ASG<br>Mr. S.S. Rebello, Adv.<br>Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv.<br>Mr. Bhaskar Chhakara, Adv.<br>Mr. Anurag Sharma, Adv.<br>Ms. Surabhi Mehta, Adv.<br>Mr. Shishir Deshpande, Adv.
Gujarat	Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Adv.<br>Ms. Vishakha, Adv.
Haryana	Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, Adv.<br>Mr. Navin Gupta, Adv.<br>Ms. Sasmita Tripathy, Adv.<br>Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR.
J&K	Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, Adv.
Jharkhand	Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Adv.<br>Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv.
Karnataka	Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, Adv.<br>Mr. Lagnesh Mishra, Adv.<br>Mr. Parikshit P. Angadi, Adv.
Kerala	Mr. G. Prakash, Adv.<br>Mr. Jishnu M.L., Adv<br>Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Adv.<br>Mrs. Beena Prakash, Adv.
Maharashtra	Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv.<br>Mr. Nishant R. Katneshwar, Adv.
Manipur	Mr. Leishangthem Roshmani Kh., Adv.<br>Ms. Maibam Babina, Adv.<br>Mrs. Anupama Ngangom, Adv.
Meghalaya	Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Adv.<br>Mr. K.V. Kharlyngdoh, Adv.
Mizoram	Mr. Pragyan Pradip Sharma, Adv.<br>Mr. p.V. Yogeswaran, Adv.<br>Mr. Shekhar Gargi, Adv.<br>Mr. Mudit M., Adv.<br>Mr. Babul Kumar, Adv.
M.P.	Mr. Rajesh K. Singh, Adv.<br>Mr. Sunny Choudhary, Adv.
Nagaland	Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Adv.<br>Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.

Punjab	Mr. Karan Bharihoke, Adv.<br>Ms. Navkiran Bolay, Adv.
Rajasthan	Mr. S. S. Shamshery, AAG<br>Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv.<br>Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.<br>Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Sikkim	Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv.<br>Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv.<br>Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv.<br>Ms. Geetanjali, Adv.<br>For M/s Arputham Aruna & Co.
Telangana	Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv.<br>Mr. Mrityunjai Singh, Adv.
Tripura	Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv.<br>Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv.
West Bengal	Mr. Suhaan Mukerji, Adv.<br>Mr. Amit Verma, Adv.<br>Ms. Kajal Dalal, Adv.<br>Ms. Dimple Nagpal, Adv.
For U.Ts<br>A&N	For M/s PLR Chambers & Co.<br>Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv.<br>Ms. G. Indira, AOR<br>Mr. Mrinal K. Mondal, Adv.
Puducherry	Mr. V. G. Pragasam,Adv.<br>Mr. S. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Adv.<br>Mr. S. Manuraj, Adv.
	Ms. Radhika Chaturvedi, Adv.<br>Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv.<br>Mr. S.K. Rajora, Adv.
	UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

Report NO. 19

No orders are required to be passed on this Report.

It is accordingly disposed of.

O R D E R

Report No. 20

It has been reported by the Committee on Road Safety that

during the period 2013 to 2017 as many as 14936 deaths took place due to potholes on roads. This is obviously a very high number and it indicates that the concerned authorities whether they are Municipal Corporations or State Governments or National Highway Authority of India or other such bodies or organizations are not maintaining roads effectively.

It is not at all acceptable that such a large number of deaths take place due to potholes on roads. To add to the problem, there is no provision for grant of compensation to the legal representatives of the victims who have to live with an unforeseen tragedy which arises only due to lack of concern by the Authorities. There is also, unfortunately, no criminal action taken against the concerned authorities for their negligence.

There is no appearance on behalf of the Union of India in this matter today. We adjourn the matter to 10th January, 2019.

We would like the response of the Union of India which response should be in consultation with all the State Governments / UTs to remedy the situation and to provide succour to the relatives of the victims whose death is caused due to pothole accidents.

We may note that there is no data available about the number of accidents resulting in injuries other than deaths. It is quite possible that the number of injured persons would be much higher than the number of deaths that have occurred.

List the matter on 10th January, 2019.

(MEENAKSHI KOHLI) (KAILASH CHANDER) COURT MASTER ASSISTANT REGISTRAR

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