Hold officers, contractors responsible for pedestrian deaths personally liable, orders SC | India News – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Amid rising pedestrian deaths in street accidents previously few years — over 1.4 lakh misplaced their lives within the 5 years from 2019 to 2023 — the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed govts to carry officers and contractors personally liable in instances of pedestrian deaths prompted as a result of infrastructural or design points.The SC, in its order, directed the authorities to invoke Section 198A of Motor Vehicle Act in such instances. The provision launched in 2019 says that the place failure on the half of designated authority, contractor, guide or concessionaire responsible for complying with requirements for street design, development and upkeep, leads to demise or incapacity, such authority or contractor or concessionaire shall be punishable with a superb of as much as Rs 1 lakh.However, there has not been a single occasion when this provision was enforced and any penalty imposed previously six years. “The directive to hold people accountable is important as at present it’s easy to pass the buck. But to enforce this, there must be a proper scientific investigation into any crash,” stated a street security skilled.The court docket’s directive for institution of a easy and efficient on-line grievance redressal mechanism by the landowning businesses to cope with complaints pertaining to lack of upkeep of footpaths and the requirement of pedestrian crossings can also be essential contemplating there isn’t any such system in place at current. The SC has additionally directed the authorities to reply to complaints inside a specified timeframe and be sure that the difficulty is resolved in a time-certain method.“The grievance redressal system must incorporate a review mechanism by higher authorities, to be invoked in cases where the complainant is not satisfied with the resolution provided,” the order stated.Taking cognizance of accidents brought on by mistaken-lane driving, the court docket directed state transport departments, visitors police authorities and concrete native our bodies to implement lane self-discipline through the use of automated cameras, graduated fines, colored and textured lane markings, dynamic lighting, rumble strips and tyre killers at essential accident-susceptible factors.The court docket has additionally instructed the street transport ministry, state transport departments and visitors police authorities to prescribe most permissible luminance and beam angles for automobile headlights and guarantee compliance by means of checks throughout PUC testing and automobile health certification, and conduct focused drives to penalise non-compliant or modified headlights.“A complete ban on unauthorised red–blue strobe flashing lights and illegal hooters shall be enforced through seizure, market crackdowns and penalties,” it stated.
