Want single authority to tackle potholes: HC

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Monday suggested that the BMC appoint a single authority, which shall be responsible for attending to complaints filed by the public about potholes.

The division bench of Chief Justice Naresh H. Patil and Justice Makarand Subhash Karnik on Monday said that a single authority should be appointed who shall be responsible for attending the complaints filed by the public.

According to the judges, the public is not concerned with the responsible agency, i.e. which agency is responsible for maintaining which road, and hence all agencies should work under the single authority as ‘Road Safety Authority’.

The judges had also suggested that signboards should be fixed on roads with potholes and the boards should guide citizens to go slow and a war room shall also be prepared for potholes.

The bench asked the BMC to file an affidavit and inform the court about its action plan of how and what measures would be taken in 2019 monsoon for safer roads.

Senior counsel Anil Sakhre, on behalf of the BMC assured the bench that an affidavit would be filed on next date of hearing as per court’s instructions.

The court posted this matter for further hearing on January 14, 2019.

During the hearing, the bench also discussed whether if it was possible to make an assistant municipal commissioner responsible for handling complaints.

The court was hearing a suo motu (on its own) petition on the basis of a letter written by Justice Gautam Patel on July 24.