NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) has issued a slew of directions to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), states and Union Territories (UTs) with regard to a ‘regulatory structure’ to be followed for setting up road safety committees in each district to maintain uniformity, ensure implementation of policies, periodic review of accidents and timely medical attention to the road accident victims.
The panel has also directed the ministry to appoint a nodal officer, to monitor activities of district-level committees, who will prepare a consolidated report of ‘defaulters’ and send it to the SCCoRS.
A note comprising directions sent to the chief secretaries of states, administrators of UTs, and the ministry on March 29 said that the District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) would comprise 10 members with district magistrate as its ex-officio chairman and the highway administrator of state highways and major district roads (MDRs) as the member secretary.
The SCCoRS further directed states and UTs to appoint superintendent engineer or executive engineer of the public work department (PWD) as district administrator of state highways and MDRs in each district.
The states and UTs have also been allowed to induct or co-opt any other stakeholder on the panel but substitutions are not permitted.
As per the 15-point terms of reference and functions decided by the SCCoRS, the district committees have been directed to conduct periodic review of the road accidents, regularly track and update state road safety council.