HC expands the STAC for monitoring road problems

Mumbai, Aug 31 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today while hearing a bunch of public interest litigations indicating the problems faced by people due to bad roads, felt the need for more representation of the people's voice within the Standing Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and therefore expanded the same by including three persons nominated from various backgrounds.

A division bench comprising Justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde held that the BMC would have to respect the advice of the STAC and follow the recommendations made by them from time to time.

Also, the STAC would have to approve the three new members -- Advocate Mihir Desai, Dr Gersan DeCunha and Professor Sudhir Badami -- and henceforth invite them for all their meetings.

Said Justice Lodha, ''These three persons will put forth the grievances of the people before the committee''. He believed that more representation of social activists would bring problems of serious nature under discussion resulting in their solutions.

While the STAC, which comprises of engineers, meets every two months and gives necessary advice to the BMC, it was accepted by all parties that the expanded monitoring committee would be manned by engineers and activists.

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