BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the Chief Engineer of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to personally inspect the pothole filling work and relaying of roads done by private contractors and by an agency outsourced by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Coming down heavily on the civic body for ignoring its earlier orders during the last six to seven years, the court directed the NHAI to submit a report in four weeks.
The direction was issued in the absence of independent third-party assessment of the work being done by private contractors and the agency, and the BBMP authorities themselves are certifying the work done by them.
Pointing out that the observations made in the earlier orders about the poor condition of roads, and potholes in particular, leading to accidents which have claimed human lives, a division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi orally observed that the photographs of the work produced by the BBMP show that only cosmetic work is being done on roads, which peel off after heavy rain.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Vijayan Menon and three others from Koramangala in 2015 seeking directions to improve the condition of poor roads in the city. The court also directed the Chief Engineer, NHAI or a senior officer/nominated by him to personally inspect the work and also to indicate in the report if there is any dereliction on the part of BBMP officials, pothole filling agency or contractors.
The court said, after visiting the places where the work is done, the Chief Engineer or the officer nominated by him should submit a detailed report by independently assessing the work on issues whether the work is carried out as per the work order, whether the work carried out by the contractor or the agency is satisfactory and also make suggestions if any.
The high court made it clear that the order passed on Wednesday should not be treated as stopping ongoing work and that the work already undertaken should proceed until further orders. Meanwhile, the court also granted time to American Road Technology Solutions, the firm which was entrusted with the work of filling up potholes using a Python machine, to submit its response to the notices issued by the BBMP for allegedly not fulfilling the terms of the contract. The next hearing has been adjourned to December 7, 2022.