The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from
the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways in a suo motu case in connection with an accident in Rajasthan's
Phalodi area that claimed 15 lives.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi
issued notice to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the
ministry, seeking their replies in two weeks on the cause of the accident.
It also asked them to conduct a survey of the area
and file a report on the number of dhabas on the highway passing through
Phalodi.
The bench also sought a specific report on the
condition of the highway and the norms followed by the road contractor for road
maintenance in Phalodi.
The top court recently took suo motu cognisance of
the November 2 road accident in Phalodi, in which 10 women and four children
died when a tempo traveller rammed into a stationary trailer truck.
The incident occurred near Matoda village on the
Bharat Mala Highway when the tempo traveller was going from Bikaner's Kolayat
temple to Jodhpur.