SHILLONG:
A Division Bench of the Meghalaya High Court on Friday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) pertaining to the maintenance and upkeep of the Shillong-Jowai NH6 Road saying it is not possible for it to monitor a particular road.
The bench consisted of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh.
The petition was instituted on the ground that the road was incomplete, ill-maintained and had numerous potholes that caused immense hardship and misery to the regular users. The petitioner also complained of several accidents with some of them being fatal.
The court in its judgment stated, “It is neither possible nor desirable for the court to monitor the regular upkeep and maintenance of a particular road, however, critical the same may be. In the light of the report filed by the State and the assurance given by the State that regular maintenance work would be carried out to ensure free and smooth movement of traffic up and
down the relevant road, this public interest litigation is closed.”
The state government had submitted that the maintenance work of the road has been undertaken and the potholes have been levelled.
“Indeed, the report indicates as such. However, the petitioner complains that the quality of the repair works undertaken leaves a lot to be desired since the patchworks have already started wearing off within a few days of the repair work being undertaken,” the court said.
The court observed that the road is an important connection between two busy places in the state and it should be the government’s endeavour to ensure that regular maintenance work is undertaken so that it is motorable and the potholes that may come up from time to time are filled up and repaired without undue delay.