Shillong: The Meghalaya High Court has instructed the state government to compile a list of all weighbridges and provide it to a petitioner who claimed that overloaded vehicles were routinely passing through these weighbridges with impunity.
The directive was issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice IP Mukerji and Justice W Diengdoh while hearing a PIL filed by Tennydard M Marak, who alleged that overloaded vehicles are being allowed to pass unchecked through weighbridges by government officials, resulting in significant revenue loss for the government.
The petitioner alleged that government officials are allowing overloaded vehicles to pass through malfunctioning weighbridges, leading to a loss of revenue that could be collected through overloading fees, cess, fines, and royalties on export materials.
“We admitted the petition on 5th December, 2024 and directed an inspection to be made by government officials to ascertain the truth of the statements in the petition and invited a report from the Commissioner of Transport. A proper inspection in terms of our order, for whatever reason, has not been carried out till date,” the court said.
“First of all, there is a dispute between the parties with regard to the number of weighbridges to be covered. Secondly, the counsel for the petitioner says that her client did not receive notice of inspection in terms of Court’s order dated 5th December, 2024 at the proper time. Any inspection claimed to be done by the government was done without notice to the petitioner. The Advocate General submitted that his government is agreeable to conduct a fresh inspection,” the court said.
To address these concerns, the court ordered the government to prepare a list of weighbridges.
The list must be submitted to the petitioner by February 19, 2025.
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“A spot inspection for two hours shall be conducted by the respondents during a time period when vehicular traffic is the greatest through each of the weighbridges maintaining the secrecy as mentioned in our order dated 5th December, 2024. Inspection of all the weighbridges shall be concluded by 30th April, 2025. A report is also to be filed in terms of our said order dated 5th December, 2024 by 2nd May, 2025,” the court ordered.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 8, 2025.
