The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking wide-ranging directions to ensure public safety through maintenance and auditing of roads, bridges, electric wiring and other civic infrastructure across the country. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the petition sought overly broad reliefs and observed that such matters are better addressed by jurisdictional High Courts.
During the hearing, the Bench expressed concern over the sweeping nature of the reliefs sought in the plea. The Court remarked that issuing nationwide directions covering multiple aspects of infrastructure management would be impractical.
“You want us to run the entire country,” the Chief Justice told the counsel appearing for the petitioner while referring to the wide scope of the prayers made in the petition.
The Bench also described the petition as being akin to a “shopping mall” of requests. “Your petition is as good as a showroom or a shopping mall. Right from repairing potholes, roads, finish unfinished structures like bridges, everything is there. You name a relief on the earth and everything is there in this,” the Court observed.
Declining to entertain the petition, the Bench said that directions of such a broad nature would be difficult to implement. The Court noted that unless the issues raised are specific, any directions issued would be “completely unmanageable.”
“It is nearly impossible to issue directions which will be completely unmanageable until and unless the issues raised are specific… we decline to entertain this writ petition leaving it open to the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional high court, if so advised, by way of an appropriately drafted petition,” the Bench said.
The Court clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the issues raised in the plea.
The Bench further pointed out that the directions sought in the petition could have significant financial implications for the states. High Courts, the judges said, are better placed to assess such matters as they are more familiar with the financial conditions of the states within their jurisdiction.
The petitioner’s counsel had argued that people across the country were losing their lives due to alleged negligence in maintaining public infrastructure.
The plea had sought multiple directions to the Centre and other authorities to ensure public safety through routine inspection, maintenance and auditing of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and electric wiring.
It also sought the constitution of a high-level independent safety audit committee comprising civil engineers, infrastructure experts, forensic investigators and representatives from civil society and human rights organisations. The committee was proposed to conduct periodic safety and maintenance audits of civic infrastructure across metropolitan and semi-urban regions.
Additionally, the petition sought directions for authorities to collect, digitise and publish data on infrastructure-related fatalities from 2020 onwards and submit district-wise reports to the Supreme Court every quarter.
However, the Court ultimately declined to entertain the petition and advised the petitioner to pursue the matter before the appropriate High Court with a properly framed plea.
