SC asks NHAI on tracking parked vehicles on highways

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked why can’t the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have an electronic surveillance mechanism to immediately track stationary or parked vehicles on highways.

The observation came from a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing a suo motu case related to a November 2025 Road accident in Rajasthan’s Phalodi area that claimed 15 lives. Senior advocate A N S Nadkarni, who is assisting the top court as amicus curiae in the matter, referred to some recent road accidents caused due to parking of vehicles on highways. “Why can’t the NHAI, which has got all the resources with it, have some kind of an electronic surveillance mechanism by which any vehicle found stationary or parked on the highways be immediately tracked,” the bench observed.

One of the advocates appearing in the matter said the NHAI does patrolling on the highways.

The bench was informed that several interlocutory applications have been filed in the matter. The top court posted the matter for October 13 and said it would deal with the applications concerning removal of encroachments from the highways. While hearing the matter in September, the apex court had flagged the issue of encroachment and stationary vehicles on the highways.