The Delhi High Court has directed land-owning agencies to remove — within four weeks — all speed breakers on public roads that were constructed without the authorisation of the Delhi Traffic Police and are against engineering standards stipulated by the Indian Road Congress (IRC) and the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC).
A bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva issued the direction to the three municipal corporations, Public Works Department, the New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Cantonment Board and Delhi Development Authority, which are responsible for the maintenance of roads in the Capital.
Ill-designed
“It is a historic judgement,” said Atul Kumar, secretary general (national) of the Guru Hanuman Society of India, an NGO in north west Delhi’s Rohini, which filed one of the two petitions related to the issue.
“We had filed the petition given the physical harm that such ill-designed speed breakers cause to commuters and vehicles,” Mr. Kumar said.
There are over a thousand speed breakers across the Capital — except Lutyens’ Delhi — that do not conform to the engineering standards laid down by the IRC and the UTTIPEC, said Mr. Kumar.
Mr. Kumar’s petition argues that while the IRC has given particulars of sharpness, thickness, slope and indicated how many rumble strips must accompany a speed breaker, the civic agencies have not followed it, making it dangerous for commuters.
More signages
The court, which directed the Traffic Police and the civic bodies to ensure that non-conforming speed breakers not be constructed, also said that plastic or PVC speed breakers must be removed if they fail to conform with the guidelines and if they haven’t been cleared by the Traffic Police.
The bench also directed the agencies to put up signage indicating that there is a speed bump ahead.
The bench made it clear that its directions “shall be strictly complied with” and warned that non-compliance, would invite “coercive action”.
The court has listed both the petitions for August 31 with directions to the effect that the authorities concerned file affidavits indicating compliance with the court’s directions till then.
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