HC junks PIL over shifting of foot overbridge on national highway

Disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) by residents of Jaisinghpur Khera village in Rewari district, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stated that the location of a foot overbridge on the national highway lay within the domain of field experts, and the court neither has the expertise nor the experience to go into site issues.

Over a hundred residents of the village filed the PIL through advocate Hardeep Singh Kasan, pleading against the decision to shift the foot overbridge at Jaisinghpur Khera, situated on the Gurugram-Jaipur National Highway, to a milestone finalised by the NHAI. They also prayed for not allowing any construction on the fresh site.

The petitioners said the NHAI, keeping in view the safety and convenience of the local population, decided to construct foot overbridges at nine locations on the Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur section. Of these, one foot overbridge was finalised at Jaisinghpur Khera. However, due to political pressure, the respondents changed the location without any justification, which would be detrimental to the interest of thousands of residents, commuters and farmers of Jaisinghpur Khera and nearby villages, the PIL stated.

The Chief Justice, Justice Sheel Nagu, and Justice Sanjiv Berry said: “The location of the foot overbridge over the national highway lies within the exclusive domain of the experts in the field. This court neither has the expertise nor the experience to go into the exact siting of a particular foot overbridge over a national highway. Such issues need to be best left for the experts to take a call. We have no manner of doubt that whatever decision is taken on the siting of the foot overbridge over NH-48 is taken after obtaining advice of the experts and after due sanction of the competent authority. This court, therefore, declines to interfere on the merits of the present petition, and the same is accordingly disposed of.”