January 17, 2026 : The Chhattisgarh High Court has held the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department accountable for the upkeep of a coal and fly ash transport road in Bilaspur, directing its Joint Director to submit a detailed affidavit with a clear timeline for repairs.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal passed the order while hearing a suo motu matter on January 13, 2026. The court has been monitoring the safety risks arising from heavy vehicular movement and the severe deterioration of roads in the area.
During earlier hearings, the matter had reached a standstill due to a dispute over jurisdiction. The Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur, informed the court that the road did not fall within its limits and suggested that it was under the control of the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC).
However, CSIDC later filed an affidavit stating that a survey and official map showed the road lay outside its industrial area. According to the corporation, the stretch falls squarely under the jurisdiction of the Department of Town and Country Planning.
Taking note of this, the court observed that the TCP Department, being an instrumentality of the State government, cannot evade responsibility for maintaining the road. The Joint Director, TCP, Bilaspur, has now been directed to place on record a concrete plan for repairing and upgrading the stretch to ensure it is safe and motorable.
At the same time, the bench acknowledged that a large number of heavy vehicles using the road are ferrying coal and fly ash to and from industrial units managed by CSIDC. In view of the public safety concerns, Chief Justice Sinha directed the Managing Director of CSIDC to ensure that the road remains serviceable.
The court has also asked CSIDC to file a further affidavit outlining specific steps it will take for maintenance and coordination with other government departments.
The present proceedings trace back to February 2025, when the High Court took suo motu cognisance through a PIL over the poor condition of roads leading to a hospital in Bilaspur. At that time, the court noted that the road was in a deplorable condition and that illegal encroachments on both sides were causing serious inconvenience to patients and their attendants.
