Form teams to inspect, remove encroachments from national highways: SC to Centre

Expressing concern over encroachments on national and state highways the Supreme Court SC on Tuesday directed the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways MORTH to form multiple teams for frequent and regular inspections of roads to identify and address unauthorised occupations reported PTIA bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih also instructed the ministry to establish an online portal where citizens can report and upload photographs of highway encroachments Additionally the bench ordered the Centre to widely publicise the portal and set up a tollfree number for citizens to report such encroachments and unauthorised occupationsThe apex court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation PIL filed by a person named Gyan Prakash who sought various directives for the implementation of the Control of National Highways Land and Traffic Act 2002 and the removal of encroachments from highwaysAdvocate Swati Ghildiyal appointed as amicus curiae friend of the court to assist the bench in this matter highlighted that the ministry had issued a circular on March 18 2020 mandating the creation of teams for the frequent inspection of highways to prevent encroachments She argued that to effectively prevent highway encroachments it is essential that these teams conduct regular inspections and report any encroachments to the competent authority for removalThe bench directed the ministry to form appropriate teams for highway inspections and urged state governments to support these teams in removing encroachments from the highways The Centre was instructed to comply with this directive by September 30 and to provide data on the actions taken under the March 18 2020 circular which required the formation of inspection teams for national highwaysThe bench indicated that it would issue further directions concerning state highways and scheduled the next hearing for October 14On April 30 the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction with the data provided by MORTH regarding the implementation of the March 18 2020 circular noting that the removal of highway encroachments as required under Section 26 of the Control of National Highways Land and Traffic Act 2002 was inadequateThe court directed the ministry to file a specific affidavit detailing the inspections carried out on national highways and the actions taken to remove encroachments in Assam Gujarat Karnataka Maharashtra Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal It requested data on inspections and encroachment removals in these states up to June 30 2024The bench observed that according to the ministrys earlier affidavit although notices had been issued since April 2023 regarding numerous highway encroachments the actual removal of encroachments appeared to have been limited to only a few structuresThe court directed MORTH to ensure that the concerned state authorities including local administration and police provide necessary assistance for the removal of encroachments The ministry was instructed to forward the courts order to all relevant state revenue and police authoritiesOn February 20 the Supreme Court had noted that there was no mechanism in place for regularly surveying highways to detect unauthorised structures or occupations It observed that without such surveys highway administrations would be unaware of encroachments leading to congestion and safety issuesThe court emphasised that the 2002 Act mandates highway authorities to intervene when highways become congested or unsafe for vehicular and pedestrian traffic It also pointed out that there was no effective system for citizens to report unauthorised highway occupations or congestionThe court directed highway administrations to develop a scheme for regular highway inspections establish a grievance redressal mechanism and take prompt action based on complaints It stressed that the responsibility of the Government of India does not end with appointing highway administrations but includes ensuring their effective functioning under the lawWith PTI inputs