Road accidents on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar NH, Mughal Road
*DB grants time till March 19 for compliance of order
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 22: Though the timeline fixed by the High Court is over yet an Expert Committee constituted to find out the reasons behind the repeated road accidents on the Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway and Mughal Road has yet not submitted its report. Now, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh has granted time till March 19 for compliance of the order.
In the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Intakhab Ahmed Qazi Versus J&K and Others, a Division Bench of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi had on December 17, 2023 observed, “considering the issues involved in the instant matters, we are of the view that it would require some expert opinion relating to the frequent and repeated road accidents which have been occurring in the Ramban, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway and in this regard, it would be appropriate to constitute a Committee of the Experts”.
Accordingly, the DB had constituted a committee comprising of an expert in the field of road construction and road safety from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu to be nominated by Director of the Institute, an expert to be nominated by the Chief Engineer, Project Sampark, Border Roads Organization, G M Bhat, former HoD of Department of Geologist, University of Jammu and a retired Executive Engineer to be nominated by the Chief Engineer R&B Jammu.
It was specifically mentioned in the order by the Division Bench that Committee of Experts will make inspection of various sites of the Ramban, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway and Mughal Road to find out the reasons for frequent road accidents and suggest measures required to be taken to make the areas accident-free by February 14, 2024.
Though the timeline fixed by the Division Bench is over yet the Committee of Experts has yet not submitted its report to the High Court and this is evident from the latest order of the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice and Justice M A Chowdhary.
List on March 19, 2024. In the meantime, compliance report in terms of the previous order passed on December 17, 2023 be furnished by or before the next date with an advance copy thereof to the other side”, read the latest order of the DB in the PIL.
According to the sources, few members of the Committee of Experts visited some portions of Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway yesterday and even today. But no date has so far been fixed for conduct of comprehensive inspection of entire National Highway as well as Mughal Road. “Even there is no clarity whether Banihal-Ramban Section of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which is also prone to frequent road accidents, will be inspected”, they added.
EXCELSIOR has come to know from relevant quarters that there was delay in the nomination of other expert members by the concerned agencies and this led to start of inspection only after the time-frame fixed for the submission of report (February 14, 2024) is over.
Keeping in view the grave issue highlighted in the PIL and serious view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court, all the concerned agencies should have acted promptly, completed inspection in a time bound manner and submitted report to the High Court by February 14, 2024, sources said.
In its order dated November 23, 2023, the DB had observed, “frequent accidents in these areas have resulted in the loss of many lives, which are preventable if appropriate preventive measures are put in place”, adding “the State respondents should come up with viable solutions, inasmuch as, ensuring road safety falls within the primary responsibility of the State authorities”.
Even concerned authorities were directed to submit report regarding the conditions of the highways in these sectors and submit inputs for prevention of accidents.
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