Should Mumbai roads be shut because BMC staff is busy: Bombay High Court

The bench was hearing a petition seeking contempt action to be initiated against the civic authorities for failing to implement the high court orders of 2018 directing the repair of potholes along all arterial roads in Mumbai and neighbouring areas.

Mumbai: Should the roads in Mumbai be shut down because the civic staff is busy with election duty and survey work for the Maratha reservation, the Bombay High Court questioned on Tuesday while pulling up the BMC for not filing an affidavit in a plea regarding pothole-related deaths.

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor deprecated the excuses given by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for not filing an affidavit in a matter regarding the rise in the number of pothole-related deaths in the city.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by advocate Ruju Thakker seeking contempt action to be initiated against the civic authorities for failing to implement the high court orders of 2018 directing the repair of potholes along all arterial roads in Mumbai and neighbouring areas.

During the last hearing in December, the court had directed the Maharashtra government and all civic bodies to file their affidavits in response to the petition.

On Tuesday, the advocate appearing for the BMC sought more time to file the affidavit.

The lawyer informed the bench that most of the civic staff, including those from the legal department, were either on election duty or conducting door-to-door surveys for the Maratha reservation.

"Is this an excuse? So roads in Mumbai should be shut? Someone is on election duty, someone is doing a survey for the Maratha reservation. What is happening?" CJ Upadhyaya said.

The court directed the BMC to file its affidavit by February 15, when the matter would be heard again.

The bench said the affidavit should also specify the date the BMC plans to complete the concretisation work in the city.