MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday, initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against the divisional engineer (highways) construction and maintenance, Madurai for failing to obey an order passed by the court last week.
In the said order, dated November 15, 2024, a bench comprising Justices MS Ramesh and AD Maria Clete directed him to appear before the court along with relevant documents in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition that complained about poor road safety measures in the Fatima College to Samayanallur stretch on the Madurai-Dindigul highway.
The petitioner in the previous hearing had claimed that frequent accidents were occurring in the aforesaid road stretch owing to indiscriminate construction of huge medians, lack of proper signs, warning lights, reflectors and poor road lighting. The judges summoned the divisional engineer (highways) and the Samayanallur deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to be present before the court along with relevant files, to find a solution to the problem.
However, only the DSP appeared before the court while the divisional engineer sent the assistant divisional engineer of the department in his stead. Perusing a report submitted by the DSP, the judges noted that a total of 399 accidents have occurred here, which is an alarming number, from 2018 to October 2024, including 104 fatal accidents, in the Samayanallur police station limits.
Though the government counsel said that the divisional engineer was unable to attend the hearing owing to a meeting in Chennai, the judges said they were disappointed with the reason assigned by the officer, particularly when accidents have been occurring in the said stretch of the highway daily and precious lives are lost.
The judges initiated suo motu criminal contempt proceedings against the officer and directed him to appear before the court on November 21 to show cause why the court should not punish him for wilful disobedience of its order. They further added a few other officials, including the Madurai corporation commissioner, as parties to the case to explore and find a solution to the petition-mentioned issue.