The Sindh High Court has constituted a high-powered committee to probe into reasons for fatal accidents on the M9 motorway and national highways in Sindh.
The direction came on a petition of Safia Lakho, who sought registration of cases against the IG motorways and other traffic officials for their negligence in preventing traffic-related deaths on the M9 motorway.
An SHC division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar, ordered that a committee headed by the chief secretary be constituted to probe into the reasons for such fatal accidents on M9 and the national highways in Sindh.
The court observed that other members of the committee will be the secretary works and services, representatives from the ministry of communication, the office of the inspector general of police, the office of inspector general, National Highway and Motorway Police and a member duly nominated by the National Highway Authority.
The SHC ordered that the committee be notified by the chief secretary within a week’s time and it will conduct a thorough probe regarding the reasons of fatal accidents on the M9 and national highways in the province of Sindh and submit its recommendations for the roads improvement and traffic management within a period of one month to the court.
The chairman if tge highway authority and the general manager of Sindh region NHA have filed their counter affidavits and placed on record the documents regarding periodic maintenance works conducted on the National Highway (N5), Hyderabad-Sakrand section and N-55 Jamshoro-Wagan section.
The court observed that the reply demonstrates that almost the entire work has been completed, which has been strongly disputed by the petitioner by contending that the national highway from Hyderabad to Ranipur is almost in a non-workable condition.
The petitioner pointed out that due to a completely destroyed road there are huge lines of vehicles on the road depicting a picture of blockade, which has caused several fatal accidents, for which the National Highway Authority is solely responsible.
The court observed that the NHA’s chairman submitted in the counter affidavit that the motorway is structurally sound, geometrically compliant and fully serviceable.
The court also observed that the NHA also mentioned in the comments that routine and preventive maintenance, pavement rehabilitation, thermoplastic road markings, signage, drainage management and 24/7 Emergency Response & Rescue Services are operational across the corridor.
The SHC observed that contents of the reply are quite conflicting to the situation existing on the ground, and the travel histories, so produced on record by the petitioner depicted a gloomy picture of the last two months.
The court observed that the petitioner filed numerous press clippings of newspapers that fatal accidents have occurred at the Kathore section in between Toll Plaza and Noori Abad over M9.
The court further said that as per reports besides other factors the road condition was a significant contributory factor for the accidents. It said that if an accident happened due to a bad road condition impliedly the responsible officers of the NHA will account for the same and they cannot be absolved from their contribution to those fatal accidents.
The SHC observed that it transpired from record that on Feb 13, 2026 twelve persons were killed and six injured in a road accident near Kathore over M9 and the picture available in court record clearly demonstrated the road condition.
The bench also pointed out that on February 16, 2026 six persons were killed in a road accident near Naushehro Feroz on N5 and photographs so made show a very miserable condition of the road, while on February 15, 2026 eleven persons were killed and eighteen were injured on the National Highway near Khairpur for similar reasons.
The high court stated that the contention of the National Highway Authority that the road was in a very good condition is nothing but an attempt to divert the scope of the petition, wherein the petitioner has prayed that the NHA officials are responsible for causalities on account of road accidents and FIRs with regard to the accidents be lodged against them.
NHA officials said that the construction of a metalled road over the Indus Highway will be completed by the end of March 2026 while the Moro road will be completed by June 2027.
The court expressed dissatisfaction over the undertakings given by the NHA officials. It observed that he Indus Highway has been under construction for the last about 8-9 years as stated by the member NHA, and such delayed construction has resulted in escalation of the cost, which has resulted in a huge loss to the national exchequer.
The high court directed the NHA to file a comprehensive reply with regard to the delay in completion of two important arteries connecting the rest of the country with its commercial hub Karachi.
It observed that due to the delay in construction work and untimely maintenance issues, the business in Karachi has suffered a huge setback, for which the NHA officials have to account for too.
The court directed the NHA to furnish the details of maintenance works undertaken during the period of last three years on M9 and National Highway.
It observed that though it is a fit case, wherein the directions could have been issued to the police authorities for registration of cases of criminal negligence against the officials of the NHA, as an indulgence and at this stage, the court does not find fit to pass any direction regarding the registration of FIRs against National Highway officials.
The court also observed that it will be appropriate that in order to save lives of the people in future and to halt the accidents to occur due to bad road condition, a high-level committee may be constituted to probe into the fatal accidents for fixation of the responsibility against the delinquent officials.
The court ordered constitution of the committee headed by the chief secretary to probe into the reasons for such fatal accidents on the M9 motorway and the national highways in the province of Sindh and submit a report within one month.
