The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the road transport and highways ministry over rising accidents on national highways because of unauthorised truck parking and construction of dhabas.
A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi took suo motu cognisance of the issue following two accidents on national highways in Rajasthan and Telangana on November 2 and 3, respectively.
In Rajasthan’s Phalodi, 15 people were killed when their tempo traveller rammed into a stationary truck parked on the Bharatmala highway on November 2.
The next day, 17 people were killed when a bus collided with a truck on the Hyderabad-Bijapur National Highway.
Blaming the illegal roadside dhabas for these accidents, the bench called for regulating their construction.
“People stop their trucks and go to the dhabas… other vehicles coming at heavy speed collide with them. We have to understand how this can be regulated,” the bench observed while seeking a report from the central authorities.
The bench also flagged poor roads despite the collection of toll taxes, and unauthorised parking outside dhabas.
The top court said the home ministry and the states through which the highways pass might also be impleaded in the case for taking remedial actions.
The report on the condition of roads and the construction of dhabas should be submitted to the court within two weeks, the bench ordered.
The report should include the norms followed by the contractors in executing various projects on national highways.
The court also appointed senior advocate Atma Ram Nadkarni as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.