3 min learnUp to date: Aug 11, 2026 05:52 PM IST
The Maharashtra authorities has given a 60-day ultimatum to state city our bodies to demolish and take away all new and current unlicensed buildings and ban building of any dhaba, eatery, or business buildings throughout the Proper of Manner (ROW) – the overall strip of land acquired and reserved by the federal government – on all Nationwide Highways within the state.
The rationale for the state authorities to ban unauthorised dhabas and resorts is the Supreme Courtroom’s cognizance of the information studies in April that as many as 34 lives had been misplaced in successive accidents in Rajasthan and Telangana.
Observing that the Nationwide Highways represent “roughly 2% of India’s complete street size however account for practically 30% of all street fatalities”, the Supreme Courtroom had directed the street departments of the Centre and States to make sure highways don’t develop into a “hall of peril attributable to administrative lethargy or administrative gaps” because it monitored compliance of its April road-safety instructions.
On July 13, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was knowledgeable that solely three states or Union Territories (UTs) — Bihar, Karnataka and Puducherry had filed compliance affidavits.
The bench mentioned that if different states didn’t file their studies inside two weeks, it will direct the Chief Secretaries and Administrators Normal of Police (DGPs) of all defaulting states and UTs to seem earlier than the courtroom.
Flagging “systemic negligence and catastrophic infrastructure failures”, the highest courtroom recognised such lapses as amounting to a “grave infringement on the proper to protected passage” and “dereliction of statutory responsibility by authorities…and sought a report on administrative failures which have resulted in a risk to public security. The SC will hear the matter subsequent on August 17.
To adjust to the Supreme Courtroom orders, the Maharashtra authorities launched a crackdown against illegal dhabas, eateries and resorts throughout the Proper of Manner stretch.
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Supreme Courtroom’s instructions to Centre, States
In its road-safety framework, the bench of Justices J Ok Maheshwari (now retired) and Atul S Chandurkar gave these directions:
- Bar on heavy and business automobiles from stopping on Nationwide Freeway carriageways or paved shoulders besides at designated parking services
- Use of the Superior Site visitors Administration System (ATMS) – cameras, pace detectors, variable message boards and emergency name packing containers, GPS-based photographic proof and e-Challan to implement the rule.
- Freeway authorities to report inspections, encroachments and demolitions
- NHAI to activate citizen encroachment complaints and conduct drone-based surveys twice a yr;
- Elimination of recent and current unauthorised buildings throughout the ROW inside 60 days
- Ban on new dhabas, eateries and business institutions throughout the ROW.
- No licences, NOCs or commerce permissions to be granted or renewed in freeway security zones with out prior clearance by the NHAI or Public Works Division (PWD)
- Present licences to be reviewed inside 30 days.
- Formation of district freeway security process forces
- Round the clock patrolling, with automobiles fitted with monitoring gadgets on the highways.
- Set up of BLS ambulances and restoration cranes at each 75 km on freeway stretches for swift response to accidents.
The courtroom additionally ordered identification and publication of blackspots and demanding areas, with high-intensity lighting, pace cameras, retro-reflective warning indicators and transverse markings.
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