Himachal Pradesh High Court: In a suo motu petition regarding lack of improvement in the road condition between Manali and Mandi on NH-21 (Old), the Division Bench of M.S. Ramachandra Rao, CJ., and Jyotsna Rewal Dua, J., opined that though tunnels on the said section were good, there were several stretches where it was difficult for the motorists to drive because of heavy dust on road and poor road conditions. Further, in several places, where the mudslides/landslides had occurred, it had not been removed and roads were very narrow at several points, which required immediate attention of the National Highway Authority of India (‘NHAI’). Thus, the Court directed the NHAI to file a report on the Manali-Mandi section of NH-21 on the next date of hearing, and the steps proposed to be taken to rectify the above aspects should also be indicated in the said status report.
In the present case, the Court perused the status report filed by the NHAI regarding NH-05 and opined that it appreciated the steps which was undertaken to improve the road condition and the safety on this section, and hoped that the process would continue till all the issues were resolved. However, the Court opined that it was distressed at the lack of improvement in the road condition between Manali and Mandi on NH-21 (Old).
On a recent visit over the weekend to Kullu and Manali, the Court noticed that nothing much was done to repair the road condition or remove the landslides at several places which occurred on account of heavy rainfall in July and August, 2023. The Court opined that though tunnels on the said section were good, there were several stretches where it was difficult for the motorists to drive because of heavy dust on road and poor road conditions. Further, in several places, where the mudslides/landslides had occurred, it had not been removed and roads were very narrow at several points, which required immediate attention of the NHAI.
Thus, the Court directed the NHAI to file a report on the Manali-Mandi section of the NH-21, on the next date of hearing, and also stated that the steps proposed to be taken to rectify the above aspects should also be indicated in the said status report.
The matter would next be listed on 04-04-2024.
[Court on its own motion v. State of H.P., 2024 SCC OnLine HP 909, Order dated 27-03-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
R.K. Gautam, Senior Advocate as Amicus Curiae with Jai Ram Sharma, Advocate; Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Rakesh Dhaulta, Pranay Pratap Singh, Mr. Sushant Keprate and Gobind Korla, Additional Advocates General and Arsh Rattan, Sidharth Jalta and Priyanka Chauhan, Deputy Advocates General; K.D. Shreedhar, Senior Advocate with Shreya Chauhan, Advocate; Balram Sharma, DSGI.
