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Synopsis

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday transferred to the Patna High Court a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the recent spate of bridge collapses in the state of Bihar.

While taking note of the nature and urgency of the issue, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar ordered, "We are of the opinion that the present writ petition should be transferred to the High Court of Judicature at Patna, which can conduct expeditious and appropriate hearings from time to time".

Observing that the high court would be better placed to monitor the steps taken by the State of Bihar as well as the National Highways Authority of India, the court directed the registry to transfer the entire record pertaining to the present writ petition to the High Court of Judicature at Patna.

During the hearing, the petitioner highlighted several incidents of bridge collapses in the state.

The bench also pulled up the State Government for failing to act swiftly against officials responsible for the collapse of three under-construction bridges.

In response, counsel for the State of Bihar submitted that departmental proceedings had been initiated and that the concerned officials were suspended.

Notably, the PIL, filed by Advocate Brajesh Singh seeks direction to the State of Bihar to conduct a structural audit of all existing bridges and under-construction bridges in the state and to demolish or retrofit weak structures depending on feasibility.

The plea argues that issue requires an urgent consideration as within two years three major under construction bridges and other several incidents of collapse of large, medium and small bridges have happened wherein some people succumbed, and others were injured in the said unfortunate man-made incidents due to the gross negligence of the government and corrupt nexus of the contractors and concerned agencies.

"...back to back collapse of the bridges in Bihar clearly indicates that there has been no lessons learnt and safety of critical infrastructure like bridges is not taken seriously and these routine’ incidents cannot be termed merely accidents, it is manmade disasters", the top court has been told.

It is further sought that a high-level expert committee be constituted for continuous monitoring of all the existing and under construction bridges in the State of Bihar and also for maintaining the comprehensive database on the health of all existing bridges in the state. 

"It is a matter of grave concern that in a state like Bihar, which is the most flood-prone state of India, the total flood-affected area in the state is 68,800 sq. km which is 73.06 per cent of the total geographical area. Hence such routine accrual of the incident of falling bridges in Bihar is more disastrous as the lives of people at large are at stake. Therefore the urgent intervention of this Hon'ble Court is required to save the lives of people, as the under-construction bridges before its accomplishment collapsed routinely..", the PIL plea states.

State of Bihar should also formulate a proper policy for real-time monitoring of the bridges constructed, old and under construction on the same analogy as developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, the petition submits.

Advocate-on-Record (AOR) Kunal Yadav appeared for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Petitioner Brajesh Singh appeared as party-in-person.

Case Title: Brajesh Singh vs. State of Bihar