'Right To Motorable Road Is Constitutional Right', Says Kerala High Court As It Awaits Road Safety Audit Report

“The right to a motorable road, without any doubt, is now a constitutional right, because the right to travel is within the compass of the fundamental right,” the Kerala High Court orally observed today.Justice Devan Ramachandran made the remark while dealing with a case concerning “spate of accidents” in the State owing to poor road maintenance and rampant traffic violations.The Court had previously called for a comprehensive road safety and quality audit report from the Kochi Corporation and Public Works Department. Senior Government Pleader K.V. Manoj Kumar today sought additional time to submit the report, assuring that “engineers are visiting every road under their command and are noticing problems and rectifying it immediately.”However, amicus curiae Vinod Bhat expressed scepticism, stating that despite previous court orders, only “peripheral work” appeared to have been done.Justice Ramachandran then cited two recent tragedies to underline the urgency of the situation— one, the death of a boy crushed under a bus near Kochi Town Hall and second, the fatal accident in Thrissur where a young man swerved to avoid a pothole and was struck by oncoming traffic “right in front of his mother's eyes.”The judge stressed, “These are not mere accidents but ought to have been eye-openers. Yet this court still does not see concrete actions, as correctly stated by the amicus.”The judge added that every road has a designated engineer, making it “prima facie their responsibility to survey and cause surveillance to ensure that no life is lost and no injury is caused on account of potholes and other damning situations on the streets and on the roads.”During the course of hearing, the Court commended the Kochi City Police's efforts to curb rash driving, especially in the monsoon, but cautioned that such drives should not be seasonal. “Such drive has to be constant and daily until we are able to get a solution to the menace that we are trying to erase.”Significant discussion also took place on easing traffic congestion in Kochi. High-ranking officers proposed measures to avoid the long traffic jams by modulating the traffic at Vyttila Junction, Chakiath Road, Edappally Church area, and Palarivattam Junction. Justice Ramachandran noted that some suggestions were “appreciable at least at first blush” and expressed hope that “the stakeholders, including at the highest level, will respond…in a proactive manner and find lasting and feasible solutions,” especially with the Onam season approaching.In the Thrissur case, counsel for the Corporation, Santhosh Poduval, informed the court that action was being pursued against the responsible engineer and that all potholes had since been repaired.Justice Ramachandran closed by reminding the stakeholders that “this court [is] being the voice of the citizen” and directed the amici curiae to continue monitoring the situation. The road safety and quality audit report is to be filed within a month, and the matter will be taken up again next week.Case Title - C P Ajithkumar v State of KeralaCase No - WP(C) 32680/ 2008Counsel for Petitioner - Tom K. ThomasCounsel for Respondent - Benhur Joseph Manayani, S. Krishnamoorthy CGC, Johnson Manayani, Jomy George, Jeevan Mathew Manayani, Sebastian Thomas, C.M. Suresh Babu, SC - Cochin Corporation, M. K. Thankappan, SC - GCDA, Thomas Antony, Atul Sohan, K. Janardhana Shenoy, SC - Kochi Municipal Corporation, B. G. Bidan Chandran, Lejo Joseph George, A. K. Preetha, B. Arunkumar, Rilgin V. George, G. Hariharan, Praveen H., Anil Kumar, M. Sivaraman, R. Reji (Attingal), Sreeja Sohan K., M.U. Vijayalakshmi (Advocate By Court Order) S. Ramesh Babu, SC - Cochin Corporation, P. Benjamin Paul, SC - Kerala Water AuthorityAmici Curie: S. Krishna, S. Vinod Bhat, P. Deepak Click Here To Read/ Download Interim Order

'Right To Motorable Road Is Constitutional Right', Says Kerala High Court As It Awaits Road Safety Audit Report

Anamika MJ

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