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Synopsis

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Arif Doctor today remarked that citizens should be aware of their rights to report when they see an open manhole while hearing a contempt plea concerning open manholes in the city of Mumbai.

"Citizens should be aware of their rights. They should report when they see an open manhole," the bench observed.

The high court was hearing a contempt plea filed by Ruju Thakker against the order passed by the High Court in 2018 in a Public Interest Litigation.

The 2018 order was passed by the high court pursuant to a plea filed before the high court after a man died due to falling into a manhole during the monsoon season in August 2017. 

Today, during the hearing Advocate Anil Y Sakhare informed the high court that as of today there is no open manhole in the city of Mumbai. 

He informed the court that the BMC would conduct a survey on the missing and broken lids of manholes in the entire city by the BMC. Upon identification of the missing and broken manhole, an employee of the BMC would guard the manhole till it is fixed and the manhole will be covered with barricades and lights during the replacement. 

Sakhare also informed the court that the State Humans Rights Commission was hearing a case pertaining to a death of a person in an open manhole in June 2022 and had concluded that BMC was not responsible for the death.

The division bench also clarified that action should be taken against the theft of top lids of manholes and the scrap buyers should not buy such stolen lids. The high court directed the BMC to file a complaint with the police about the theft which would also be communicated to the ward office of the BMC by the traffic police

The bench directed BMC to place on record the complaints filed with the police and also directed the police to place on record the action initiated on the next date of hearing.

The bench further directed the BMC to address the complaints of the citizens on mybmc application as per the 2018 order of the high court.

During one of the earlier hearings, the high court had pulled by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for not covering the manholes with protective grills while observing that only 10% of manholes had been covered with protective grills since the year 2018.

“The high court had issued directions in 2018. Five years have gone by and yet only 10% of the manholes are covered with protective grills,” the court observed. 

The progress report on the directions issued by the high will now be submitted to the court in the next hearing on 24th July 2023

Case title: Ruju Thakker vs State of Maharashtra