The Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice on a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to police authorities to constitute a technical committee for monitoring the installation and maintenance of traffic signals in Chennai.
Admitting the petition, the First Bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan said that the notice would be returnable in three weeks.
In the petition, N. Sahul Hameed of T. Nagar stated that traffic signals were being installed in a “very casual and cavalier manner”. They were maintained poorly. Most did not function. At some points, signals had been installed and abandoned.
Even on roads such as Anna Salai, EVR Periyar Salai, Village Road and Kodambakkam High Road, the signals did not work properly. The traffic police was only interested in registering cases. Instead of regulating vehicular flow, “traffic police themselves created artificial chaos” to register cases.
