HC pings govt on overloaded vehicles

SHILLONG, Nov 16: The High Court of Meghalaya will ascertain after the annual vacation whether any serious steps have been taken for checking overloaded vehicles or if the state continues to bleed to protect the vested interests in transport bodies.
The court on Wednesday heard a PIL and during the hearing, there was tacit admission on the part of the state that the requisite mechanism for checking overloaded vehicles may not be in place.
The state government said there are 14 weighbridges across Meghalaya.
The court observed that 14 weighbridges may not be enough in a state with several thousand kilometres of national and state highways.
Without going into the details, the petitioner brought “irrefutable and impeachable evidence” of several such weighbridges not being functional or operational.
The state said private parties have been engaged to set up and man the weighbridges upon tenders being floated, but there is a lot more that requires to be done.
“Indeed, this could be a money-spinner for the state in augmenting revenue by penalising overloaded vehicles, particularly since there is a lot of inter-state carriage of goods through Meghalaya,” the court said.
The court observed the petitioner was right in pointing out that the state did not indicate a roadmap to say when the appropriate measures would be put in place to ensure that the overloading of goods vehicles is stopped.
“The state must also remember that the failure to check overloaded vehicles results in the state bleeding in maintaining roads, particularly given the rainfall in the state and road surface being water-soluble,” the court of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh said.
The court also said a lot more attention is needed to ensure that the cost of maintenance of roads is partially realised from the penalties imposed on overloaded vehicles or that the deterioration in road conditions is arrested by altogether prohibiting the movement of overloaded vehicles.
The court fixed February 7, 2023, as the next date of the hearing.