Tamil Nadu's shoddy roads: Here, the right to life ends in a pothole

Time of India

3 hours ago

The Constitution guarantees the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21. It has been judicially expanded to cover everything from the right to dignity to the right to sleep. But apparently, not the right to survive your morning commute
Srimathi Venkatachari
Recently, in the
Madras high court
, the bench of justices S M Subramaniam and A D Maria Clete issued directions on a public interest litigation petition filed by C M Raghavan, seeking action against a contractor for allegedly laying a substandard road in Tirunelveli.
The judges observed that private contractors in collusion with officials are laying roads using substandard materials without adhering to govt standards. The competent authorities are bound to inspect while road projects are being implemented, they added.
The state has to issue stern instructions to its officials that in the event of damage or violation, contractor and inspecting officials will be held responsible and the financial losses assessed recovered from all concerned, the judges observed.
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The Supreme Court in Umri Pooph Pratappur Tollways Pvt Ltd vs M P road development corporation (2025) held that 'the contract for laying of a state highway/district road, when assigned by the corporation owned and run by the govt, assumes the character of a public function — even if performed by a private party — and would satisfy the functionality test to sustain the writ petition'.
In 2023, the case of Shobana, a software engineer from Zoho, who lost control of her two-wheeler after hitting a pothole and died on the spot, made headlines.
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The death of Shobana is not an 'accident' in the colloquial sense. It was designed by apathy, systemic neglect and a civic culture that treats the citizens' right to life as collateral damage in the cycle of shoddy public works and zero accountability.
Her death joined the silent parade of 1,856 Indians who die each year in pothole-related crashes as per 2022 data from the Ministry of road transport and highways.
Even Zoho's CEO, Sridhar Vembu, felt compelled to speak publicly about it: 'One of our engineers, Shobana, died tragically when her scooter skidded on the heavily potholed roads …'
The Constitution, in its noble abstraction, guarantees the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21.
It has been judicially expanded to cover everything from the right to dignity to the right to sleep. But apparently, not the right to survive your morning commute.
In Consumer Education and Research Centre vs Union of India, AIR 1995 SC 922, the Supreme Court held that the right to life includes the right to health and safe working conditions, but stated that unsafe infrastructure violates constitutional rights.
So, if a person dies because their scooter plunges into a pothole large enough to hold municipal accountability, isn't that a constitutional violation?
in theory, there are remedies:
Tort Law: You can sue the state for negligence.
Motor Vehicles Act
, 1988: File a compensation claim under Section 166.
Section 304A IPC: Causing death by negligence is a crime.
But in practice? It's a game of snakes without ladders.
Take the case of Nilabati Behera vs State of Orissa (1993). Here, compensation was awarded for a custodial death due to state inaction. But when it comes to potholes, courts often stop at angry observations and moral outrage. The state, unfazed, continues patching its PR instead of roads.
Ask who's responsible and you'll see a blame-passing relay:
The municipal corporation blames the contractor. The contractor blames PWD. PWD blames the weather. And the weather, unlike the govt, doesn't hold press conferences.
In Rajkot municipal corporation v. Manjulben Jayantilal Nakum (1997)
,
the high court held the civic body's inaction grossly negligent. That was 25 years ago.
In municipal corporation of Delhi vs Subhagwanti, the court held the civic authority liable for not maintaining a clock tower that collapsed.
But apparently, Indian roads aren't as important as colonial timepieces.
In 2022,
Tamil Nadu
and Bihar reported zero pothole deaths. That's not data. That's delusion.
India loves big numbers: Six-lane expressways, ₹20,000 crore budgets, 'smart cities'. But basic repairs? Too pedestrian. In India, your chances of dying are higher on a two-wheeler than in a terror attack, a fact the Supreme Court remarked on record. Zero engineers have been convicted, and 96% of civic bodies still lack independent road audits.
Constitutional rights cannot stop where bad roads begin. Every pothole is a legal breach. Every road death is a constitutional betrayal. And if justice is to mean anything at all, it must travel beyond the courtroom and arrive on the street. Because in India, the Constitution doesn't die in Parliament. It dies in a ditch.
(The writer is an advocate in Madras high court)
The way forward
Real-time tracking of potholes and geo-tagged pothole portals monitored by courts and civil society. South Korea and Singapore track potholes in real-time through citizen apps
Accountability dashboards for civic bodies
Mandatory audits of road repairs
Criminal prosecution when complaints are ignored and someone dies
Statutory mandates for repair timelines and penalties for delays; Section 304A IPC to be invoked against engineers and officials
Automatic, no-fault compensation linked to FIRs and video evidence
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