Chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Arif Doctor passed the direction after taking note that Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC)’s in its affidavit had denied the death of Suraj Gawari (32), a residence of Chinchpada, was due to a pothole but it was due to “bottleneck” and also “there was is no potholes at least 50 meters on either side of the accident spot.”
The accident took place at Dwarli village on the Kalyan-Shree Malangad road on July 22. TOI on July 24 had reported that Gawari fell as he tried to avoid potholes and was run over by a dumper.
The court is hearing a 2019 contempt petition filed by advocate Ruju Thakker in a contempt petition respect of 2018 regarding wilful non-compliance by 13 municipal corporations of HC’s directions in a February/April 2018 judgment in a suo motu PIL on bad condition of roads.
Thakker cited the HC’s December 7, 2022 order that if any untoward incident “results in loss of life of limb, the respective municipal commissioner(s), metropolitan commissioner and chief engineer shall be held personally responsible.”
“In view of the denial of the cause of death as reported in the newspapers, we need to ascertain if the death has occurred on account of poor condition of the road and potholes,’’ said the judges, in the order directing the appointment of the commission. The judges directed that the commission shall talk to the family of the deceased, people in the vicinity and officials of KDMC and submit a report. They also directed that the cost of the commission shall be borne by KDMC.
Taking cognisance of news reports, also summoned municipal commissioners of Mumbai and five other corporations on Friday to explain why they should not be made liable for disobedience and non-compliance of HC”s 2018 judgment “It has been five years since. Time is not enough for you to remove potholes?” the CJ asked.
