The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday issued notices to the Union government, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and local authorities in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) over the massive traffic jam that recently paralyzed the Indore-Dewas stretch of the Agra-Mumbai National Highway for nearly 50 hours.
A division bench comprising Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi of the Indore bench directed the Centre, NHAI, Indore administration, and police to respond within a week. The court also ordered that the private company responsible for ongoing road construction on the highway be added as a respondent in the case.
The PIL was filed by Dewas-based advocate Anand Adhikari, highlighting the severe inconvenience caused to thousands of commuters during the prolonged traffic gridlock between Wednesday and Friday last week.
Petitioner’s counsel, Girish Patwardhan, informed the court that the chaos on the highway warranted judicial oversight. “The PIL seeks that construction work on the busy Indore-Dewas section be brought under High Court supervision to ensure accountability of all responsible parties,” Patwardhan said.
The High Court has further directed that the interim diversion route for heavy vehicles on the affected stretch be maintained until further orders.
In a tragic incident cited in the PIL, Indore resident Vijay Panchal claimed his 65-year-old father, Kamal Panchal, died of a heart attack while stuck in the jam, underscoring the human cost of the infrastructural failure.
The court’s intervention comes amid rising public frustration over poor traffic management and delays in highway construction in Madhya Pradesh.
