NEW DELHI: “You want us to run the entire country,” the Supreme Court said on Friday while dismissing a plea seeking “comprehensive” directions to ensure public safety through maintenance of roads, bridges and electrical wires, among others.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalia Bagchi observed that the petition was as good as a “shopping mall” where all kinds of reliefs were sought.
“It is almost impossible to issue directions which would be completely out of control until and unless the issues raised are specific… We refuse to entertain this writ petition and leave it open for the petitioner to approach the Judicial High Court, if so advised, by way of a suitably worded petition,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court clarified that it did not comment on the merits of the matter.
“You are asking for blanket directions,” the CJI told the lawyer representing the petitioner.
The bench said that the directions sought in the petition would have financial implications, and the high courts were best suited to understand the finances of the states concerned.
The lawyer said that people are losing their lives across the country due to the negligence of the authorities.
“You want us to run the entire country,” he asked the council, referring to the prayers mentioned in the petition.
“Your petition is as good as a showroom or a shopping mall. Starting from repairing potholes and roads to finishing incomplete structures like bridges, it is all there. You call a rest on the ground and everything is there in this,” the bench said.
The appeal has sought a set of directions for the Center and others to ensure public safety, including but not limited to maintenance, routine inspection and regular audit of public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and electrical wires, among others.
It also requested a direction to the authorities to set up a high-level independent safety audit committee, comprising civil engineers, infrastructure experts, forensic investigators and representatives of civil society and human rights organisations, to conduct periodic safety and maintenance audits of public facilities and civil infrastructure across urban and peri-urban areas.
The plea also sought to direct the authorities to collect, digitize and publish all data on infrastructure-related deaths from 2020 onwards and submit district-level reports to the Supreme Court every quarter.
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