Administrative Law: Judicial review – Project of flyover on National Highway constructed by respondent no.1 – After a year of its use, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways found it to be in a distressed condition with several cracks requiring rehabilitation measures – The IIT was thereafter appointed as an expert agency which opined that the bridge could follow a carbon fibre composite treatment and be repaired instead of being demolished – Meanwhile Dr. E. Sreedharan recommended the strengthening and replacement of RCC girders with PSC girders to ensure durability which would necessitate demolition and reconstruction and further stated that his plan ensured a 100 year guarantee for the newly constructed flyover – In view of divergent opinion, the State government set up a High Level Committee – This Committee accepted the proposal by Dr. Sreedharan in view of the service life assured by him for 100 years – State Government accepted the report of High Level Committee – Writ petition by respondent no.1 against the order of State Government – High Court directed Government to conduct load test of the flyover – Hence the instant appeal – Held: High Court instead of applying well established parameters of judicial review and ascertaining whether the decision of the State Government would vitiate Art.14 went into the matter itself and held that was better to have a load test conducted to avoid any further controversy in the matter – State Government in accepting the Expert Committee report cannot be said to have behaved arbitrarily – Order of High Court set aside.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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