Social activist Paramjit Singh Kalsi has filed a Public Interest Litigation in Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court for strict action against overloaded vehicles. The court issued notice to the principal secretary of the state home department and other concerned respondents and directed them to submit their reply by July 12.
The petition was heard before Justice Atul Chandurkar and Vrishali Joshi. The other respondents in the petition include Principal Secretary of Revenue Department, Director General of Police, Divisional Commissioner, Commissioner of Police Nagpur and District Superintendent of Police Nagpur, Bhandara and Chandrapur.
Kalsi had earlier filed a public interest litigation in this regard but no action was taken. The court, while disposing of the petition on August 23, 2017, directed action against the overloaded vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act as well as the Damage to Public Property Act. Also, it was asked to take a strategic decision in 6 months about installing electronic weight bridges and CCTV cameras at toll booths. However, there has been no significant change in the situation. Therefore, Kalsi has approached the High Court again.
Roads are damaged due to overloaded vehicles. As a result, citizens have to suffer. In Article 21 of the Constitution citizens are given the right to life. But, due to bad roads, this right is being taken away. Driving overloaded vehicles on roads is an offense under the Motor Vehicle Act. The petitioner says that a crime should be registered in such a case and the guilty should be punished.