HC pulls up Palike for not paying pothole victims

The high court slammed the BBMP for not complying with its direction to give out compensation to victims of accidents due to potholes.

A two-judge bench of Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice S R Krishna Kumar was hearing a public interest petition filed by Vijayan Menon, a resident of Koramangala, and four others, alleging that citizens were losing lives due to potholes.

Justice Oka also asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) why it should not initiate action under contempt of court, and directed the civic body to file an affidavit on non-compliance of order.

The BBMP informed the court that between October 1 and November 8, there were 10,665 potholes in eight zones. Of this, 9,319 potholes were filled. However, due to continuous rain, it could not fill the rest. The engineers are working day and night and would complete the work by the end of November, it said in an affidavit.

Palike's advocate submitted there was no specific guideline in the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act regarding the disbursement of compensation for road accident victims. “The authority has to prescribe new guideline and the BBMP is expecting experts’ opinion in this regard,” the counsel said.

“Evidence is needed to prove the accident happened due to potholes," he said.

He said the civic body would make efforts to ensure city roads are pothole-free and requested the court to withdraw the order on installing display boards informing about compensation in accident cases.