The President has
given his assent to the Control of National Highways (Land and
Traffic) Bill, 2002. With this, the Bill, passed during the Winter
Session of Parliament ending December 20, 2002, has been notified
in the Gazette of India as Act No 13 of the year 2003.
The Control of National
Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2003, seeks to regulate traffic
as well as the right of way on the National Highways. It seeks
to establish Highway Administrations and authorize its officers
to enforce the provisions of the Act and establish Tribunals for
hearing appeals against the orders of the Highway Administrations
and their authorized officers. It also provides for prevention
of unauthorized occupation of highway land and removal of such
encroachment, control of access points to the National Highways,
regulation of different types of traffic permitted on the National
Highways, control of use of road land for public utilities and
drains besides issue of licences or lease deeds for temporary
use of the National Highways. The provisions of the Act will be
enforced from a date to be notified by the Government in the Ministry
of Road Transport and Highways.
At present, the National
Highways are governed by the National Highways Act, 1956 and the
National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988. However, these
enactments do not give powers to the Central Government to prevent
or remove encroachments on land under the National Highways, or
to restrict access to them from the adjacent land, or to regulate
traffic movement of any category of vehicles or animals on the
National Highways. As the provisions of the existing two laws
and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 have not proved effective
in view of dilatory tactics adopted by the private parties, the
Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2003 is intended
to deal effectively with such problems. This Act confers necessary
powers on the Central Government through the Highway Administrations.
