CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has ordered physical inspection of the small-value road works undertaken by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) between January 1 and September 30, 2025.
The division bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice V Narasingh directed the Advocates Committee to conduct the physical inspection after taking on record the 12 affidavits filed by its engineers detailing hundreds of road repair and reconstruction works each valued at Rs 2 lakh or less across all 59 wards of the city.
Sworn individually by assistant engineers and junior engineers, the affidavits were filed in compliance with the court’s earlier order dated October 9, 2025. According to the affidavits, most projects were executed as single works, in several instances a single road was split into multiple files, each costing below Rs 2 lakh.
Members of the Advocates Committee headed by High Court Bar Association president Manoj Mishra raised strong objections alleging this was done to bypass the tendering process. Taking note of the objections and the materials on record, the bench directed the committee to carry out the inspection jointly with the respective junior engineers and submit a report to the court on the present condition of the roads before the next date of hearing on February 26, 2026.
During the hearing, CMC engineers denied any improper intent and justified the splitting of works on grounds of urgency, public grievances, pothole-related accidents, access to schools, festival-related demands, waterlogging, damage due to heavy rainfall, directions from the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and the need to minimise traffic disruption. In several cases, the engineers stated that such splitting had been initiated during the tenure of former officials.
However, seeking greater transparency in the execution of small-value road works, the bench directed all junior engineers to place additional details on record, specifically asking them to furnish the names of contractors engaged for works below Rs 2 lakh, including cases involving split files, the dates of completion of each work, the dates of payment made to contractors, and copies of agreements executed for the repair or reconstruction works.