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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the municipal corporations across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to mend all potholes on roads in their jurisdiction and hold the contractors responsible by fining them for the condition of the roads.
A division-bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sandesh Patil was hearing a suo moto (of its own accord) public interest litigation (PIL) about deaths due to potholes. In a previous hearing, the court said that municipal corporations need to be held liable for the loss of lives and limbs, and other accidents caused by potholes. On Friday, the court directed the state government to submit data from all municipal corporations in the state about pot-hold related deaths in their jurisdiction.
Representing the state, advocate Chandurkar said that while data for some municipal corporations like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was readily available, the state would need more time to file a comprehensive affidavit with data from all corporations.
Anil Sakhare, senior advocate representing the BMC, told the court that so far in 2025 the civic body has received 27,334 complaints of potholes, and of them only 688 were yet to be repaired. He said, “We have an app from which citizens can report the potholes on the road, a hotline number, twitter handle. In the 227 (electoral) wards, junior engineers have visited all the roads and found nearly 10,000 potholes this year. In 2024 we found 22,841 potholes. In 2023 we received 59,533 complaints.” Sakhare highlighted that the number of potholes and complaints was reducing and added that the remaining 688 potholes would be filled within 48 hours.
However, the court said, “Even if the numbers are coming down, why should there be potholes? What are you doing apart from repairing the potholes?” The bench pointed out that some roads, like the Marine Drive, are well maintained, but this could not be said about the suburbs.
Sakhare responded that in the BMC’s jurisdiction, many agencies including the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), PWD (Public Works Department), MSRDC (Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation), the Port Trust, and MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) were all carrying out road constructions. He said, “In Mumbai, everything is attributed to the BMC, but there are other authorities. Nobody has transferred the roads (for maintenance) to us except for the PWD, despite a state government directive. We cannot repair roads owned by some other authority.”
The court said that it didn’t want to interfere with the corporation’s job, but instead wanted to step in where the BMC had failed. “Who gives the contract for construction? Show us where you have acted against the contractors, levied fines, blacklisted contractors,” the court added.
Sakhare said that the BMC had imposed fines ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹10 lakh on contractors, but the court responded that the amount was “peanuts” compared to the worth of the contracts which were handed out.
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