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Judgment
Biswanath Somadder, CJ
We have perused the affidavit filed on 26th September, 2023, on behalf of the respondent no.1, by the Executive Engineer, Regional Office, Kolkata, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, copies whereof have been circulated amongst the parties by e-mail, as informed by the learned Deputy Solicitor General of India. On the next date, the respondent no.14, namely, the State of West Bengal, shall specifically respond to the said affidavit.
Between the last date of hearing, i.e., 17th August, 2023 and today, i.e., 28th September, 2023, a major cave-in of the arterial road (NH10 – near Seti Jhora – precisely at 6.7 kms.), took place. The actual reason for such cave-in, which caused a major disruption of traffic flow in the arterial road, however, is not known.
We, therefore, direct the learned Amicus to cause a thorough enquiry involving all the concerned stakeholders and if required, take assistance of qualified geologist/geologists, in order to ascertain as to what actually caused the cave-in near Seti Jhora. For the purpose of engaging qualified geologist/geologists, it will be open to the learned Amicus to take the assistance of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and the learned Deputy Solicitor General of India, who may request the Geological Survey of India to render every possible assistance to the learned Amicus for the purpose of conducing this enquiry.
The reason why we have passed the above directions is to try and ensure that this type of incident does not happen again in the only arterial road which connects Sikkim with the rest of the country.
The report of the learned Amicus shall be filed before this Court on or before the next date. This will be in addition to the earlier directions already issued by this Court to the learned Amicus.
List this matter on 09th November, 2023, for further consideration.