Centre fined Rs 25,000 for not responding to PIL

Pointing out that the Centre, being the biggest litigant, cannot blame the judiciary for delays in the disposal of cases when it has not yet filed a reply in a three-year old case relating to accidents, the Supreme Court on Friday imposed Rs 25,000 costs on the government.

A bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chadrachud were hearing a PIL filed by SaveLife Foundation in 2013 seeking guidelines for vehicles carrying iron rods and protruding objects and those standing stationary on the middle of the road causing several fatalities every year.

When the counsel for the Centre sought time to file a reply, senior counsel Indu Malhotra for the Foundation drew the court’s attention to the fact that the government had not filed its reply even after three years.

The Chief Justice told the government counsel: “Three years ago we gave you four weeks time and even now you are asking time. Due to your indifference, thousands of people are losing their lives.”

“How can you ask for more time. Is this a Panchayat going on here ”

The bench was about to impose a cost of Rs 50,000 on the Centre when Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi came rushing in and sought two weeks for filing a reply.

“You will not learn a lesson unless heavy cost is imposed. You are the biggest litigant. When we try to do something you do not cooperate and then you say courts have not done anything,” the Chief Justice told the A-G.

Ms Malhotra submitted that a large number of accidents and fatalities were caused by “vehicles that are stationary, or stalled on streets, highways and expressways; and vehicles transporting [protruding] iron rods, angles, pipes, poles and other construction materials. For instance, when a truck carrying iron rods braked suddenly, the vehicle behind would be caught unawares, almost always resulting in a fatal accident to its occupants. This problem gets aggravated further when the truck is left irresponsibly stalled on the road.”

Quotign government statistics, she said in 2015 alone there were 4,124 accidents caused due to stationary trucks and 12,800 sustained injuries. She said in the absence of legislation to regulate transportation of construction materials and curtail the dangers posed by stalled /stationary heavy vehicles, this court may frame guidelines under Article 142 of the Constitution mandating that transportation of iron/steel bars, construction rods, etc, is permissible only in covered trailers. The bench directed the matter to be listed after four weeks.