In what might be a big step towards achieving a permanent compensation scheme for victims of pothole deaths, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety has recommended a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to be paid by the road-owning agency as immediate succour to the deceased's family. The Committee report has been forwarded by the Supreme Court to the Centre for its response.
Limiting not just to pothole deaths, the Committee chaired by former apex court judge, Justice (Retd) KS Radhakrishnan in its report has expanded the scope of compensation to deaths caused due to manholes and open drains.
This is perhaps the first time ever that an effort has been made to punish the road-owning agencies — the municipal agencies, state governments or National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) — have been made personally liable for deaths due to potholes.
Over the last five years (2013-17), potholes claimed 14,936 lives across the country. Shocked by these numbers, the bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta said, "It is not at all acceptable that such a large number of deaths take place due to potholes on roads. To add to the problem, there is no provision for grant of compensation to the legal representatives of the victims who have to live with an unforeseen tragedy which arises only due to lack of concern by the authorities."
To take a comprehensive view about the recommendations, the Court directed the Centre to submit its response latest by January 10. The bench said, "The high number of deaths indicates that the concerned authorities whether they are municipal corporations or state governments or NHAI or other such bodies or organizations are not maintaining roads effectively... Unfortunately, there is no criminal action taken against the concerned authorities for their negligence."
On July 20 this year, the Supreme Court had sought the assistance of the Justice Radhakrishnan Committee to work out a compensation scheme for victims of pothole deaths. The Committee identified eight states accounting for more than four per cent of the deaths in the country.
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