The Bombay High Court, in a pointed query, asked, “Should the roads in Mumbai be shut down because the civic staff is busy with election duty and survey work for the Maratha reservation?” This question underscores the court’s concern over the apparent neglect of essential civic duties in favor of other tasks.
The Bombay High Court on (Tuesday) January24, has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the persistent issue of potholes and poor road conditions in Mumbai. This stern reprimand comes in light of the BMC’s failure to file an affidavit in response to a contempt plea regarding the city’s road maintenance, as the staff is reportedly preoccupied with the Maratha reservation survey and election duties.
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During a hearing, the bench, comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor, noted the absence of a report from the BMC and the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), which was due since a previous court directive in December. The BMC counsel informed the bench that most of the civic body staff, including those from the legal department, were engaged in election duty or conducting door-to-door surveys for the Maratha reservation.
Responding to this, Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya questioned,
“Is this an excuse? So roads in Mumbai should be shut? Someone is on election duty… someone is doing a survey for Maratha reservation… What is happening?”
The bench further inquired,
“We want to know what elections are going on in the state?”
The lawyer replied that preparations and training of staff for the upcoming elections were underway.
Chief Justice DK Upadhaya, addressing the severity of the issue, stated,
“A pedestrian or cyclist falling in the gutter is not a natural cause; it’s a man-made cause. You have to attend to it. It is not just under the constitution but under all the statutes of the authorities. All this is not an exercise to be done by the court. Why should we perform all this? This is your job.”
When the BMC presented statistics regarding their progress, Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya expressed skepticism, remarking,
“I have been a student of statistics. On the very first day, my teacher told the students that there are three kinds of lies. There are lies, damn lies, and statistical lies.”
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The court was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Ruju Thakker, seeking contempt action against the civic authorities for not complying with the High Court’s 2018 orders to repair potholes along all arterial roads in Mumbai and neighboring areas. In 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. However, after the corporations’ lawyers requested more time, the court extended the deadline to February 15 for the BMC and TMC to file their respective affidavits.
The bench also instructed that the affidavit should detail the BMC’s timeline for completing the concretization work in the city. Thakker highlighted a newspaper report stating that only 5% of the city’s roads had been concretized so far. The bench expressed concern, asking,
“How are you going to complete 95% of the remaining work by May and monsoon starts thereafter? When will you do the work then? The same story continues every year,”
and directed the BMC to provide a clear status on the concretization work.
The lawyer representing BMC promised to take instructions on this matter and revert by the next hearing date.
This situation underscores the challenges faced by the BMC in balancing its responsibilities towards road maintenance and other civic duties. The High Court’s intervention highlights the urgency of addressing the city’s infrastructure issues, particularly the perennial problem of potholes, which significantly impact the daily lives of Mumbai’s residents.