UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Keralam to move SC on prohibition of construction near National Highway

Question 1

The 2026 Supreme Court directions requiring States to prohibit change of land use within 40 metres and 75 metres of the mid-point of a National Highway were founded on which one of the following constitutional bases?

Accepted Answer

Article 142, read with the State's obligation under Article 21 to secure the safety of commuters

Answer

Article 131, the matter having arisen as an original dispute between the Union and the States over highway land

Answer

Article 143, on a reference made by the President seeking the Court's opinion on national highway safety

Answer

Article 32 exclusively, the proceedings having been instituted on a private public-interest petition

Question 2

While directing State Governments to notify the land-use prohibition near National Highways within 60 days, the Supreme Court entrusted the task of facilitating uniform notifications across all States within the same period to which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

Answer

National Highways Authority of India, the nodal agency managing over 50,000 km of National Highways

Answer

Indian Roads Congress, the apex technical body whose design norms the buffer distances are drawn from

Answer

National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, the Ministry's project execution arm

Question 3

Which one of the following correctly identifies the proceeding in which the nationwide highway-safety directions of 2026 (In Re: Phalodi Accident) were issued?

Accepted Answer

Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 9 of 2025, decided in April 2026 by a Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar

Answer

Suo Motu Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 9 of 2025, decided in April 2026 by a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India

Answer

Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 9 of 2025, decided in November 2025 by a Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar

Answer

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 9 of 2025 filed by the National Highways Authority of India, decided in April 2026 and reported as 2026 INSC 388

Question 4

The Supreme Court opened suo motu proceedings on highway safety after two road accidents on 2 and 3 November 2025, at Phalodi in Rajasthan and Rangareddy in Telangana. How many lives were lost in these two accidents taken together?

Accepted Answer

34

Answer

21

Answer

27

Answer

46

Question 5

Development and maintenance works on National Highways in India are executed on an agency basis by which one of the following sets of agencies?

Accepted Answer

State Public Works Departments, Border Roads Organisation, National Highways Authority of India and NHIDCL

Answer

State Public Works Departments, Central Public Works Department, National Highways Authority of India and the Indian Roads Congress

Answer

National Highways Authority of India, NHIDCL, Central Road Research Institute and the Border Roads Organisation

Answer

National Highways Authority of India, NHIDCL, National Buildings Construction Corporation and State Public Works Departments

Question 6

In the administration of National Highways, 'BhoomiRashi' refers to which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

The portal on which notifications for acquisition of land for National Highways under the National Highways Act, 1956 are published and processed

Answer

The compensation package fixed under the First Schedule of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 for landowners displaced by highway projects

Answer

The land bank of surplus acquired land maintained by NHAI along completed corridors for asset monetisation

Answer

The geo-referenced register of land use maintained by Highway Administrations under the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002

Question 7

The Indian Roads Congress was set up in 1934 by the Government of India, in consultation with the State Governments, on the recommendation of which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

The Indian Road Development Committee chaired by M.R. Jayakar

Answer

The Mitchell–Kirkness Committee on road transport in India

Answer

The Chief Engineers' conference that adopted the Nagpur Plan for road development

Answer

The advisory committee that recommended setting up the Central Road Research Institute

Question 8

Consider the following statements about the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) as compared with other bodies in the highway sector:
1. The IRC is a body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and not one created by a statute of Parliament.
2. IRC codes acquire binding force on National Highway works chiefly because they are incorporated into the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' specifications and contract documents.
3. Unlike the IRC, the National Highways Authority of India was constituted as a standard-setting technical body that frames the design codes which the IRC then adopts.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Accepted Answer

1 and 2 only

Answer

1 only

Answer

2 and 3 only

Answer

1, 2 and 3

Question 9

The Supreme Court's direction to States to notify a construction prohibition near National Highways engages several entries of the Seventh Schedule. Consider the following subject–entry identifications:
1. Land, that is to say, rights in or over land — Entry 18 of the State List
2. Highways declared by or under law made by Parliament to be national highways — Entry 23 of the Union List
3. Communications, that is to say, roads, bridges and other means of communication not specified in the Union List — Entry 13 of the State List
4. Regulation of land use and town planning — Entry 20 of the Concurrent List
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

Accepted Answer

1, 2 and 3

Answer

1 and 2 only

Answer

2, 3 and 4

Answer

1 and 4 only

Question 10

In Kerala, the department that has taken the lead in contesting the highway construction-buffer directions and that handles the State's roads and bridges portfolio is:

Accepted Answer

The Public Works Department

Answer

The regional office of the National Highways Authority of India, which alone can regulate every kind of building activity abutting highways in the State

Answer

The State Disaster Management Authority, which exclusively clears all changes of land use falling within highway safety zones

Answer

The Local Self Government Department, whose town planning wing is the sole authority for all notifications issued under the National Highways Act, 1956

Question 11

Which one of the following pairs a direction actually issued by the Supreme Court in its 2026 highway-safety judgment with the authority correctly charged to carry it out?

Accepted Answer

The District Magistrate shall constitute a District Highway Safety Task Force in every district within 15 days of the order

Answer

The National Highways Authority of India shall identify accident blackspots on National Highways within 45 days of the order

Answer

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways shall undertake round-the-clock highway patrolling at 50 km intervals

Answer

The State Police shall constitute a District Highway Safety Task Force in every district within 15 days of the order

Question 12

With reference to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' report 'Road Accidents in India, 2024', consider the following matchings:
1. Total road accidents in the country during 2024 — about 4.88 lakh
2. Total road accident fatalities in the country during 2024 — about 1.77 lakh
3. Deaths on National Highways during 2024 — about 64,800
4. Share of National Highways in total road accident deaths — about 31 per cent
Which of the above is/are NOT correctly matched?

Accepted Answer

4 only

Answer

1 and 3

Answer

2 and 4

Answer

3 only

UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Keralam to move SC on prohibition of construction near National Highway

Q1. The 2026 Supreme Court directions requiring States to prohibit change of land use within 40 metres and 75 metres of the mid-point of a National Highway were founded on which one of the following constitutional bases?

Q2. While directing State Governments to notify the land-use prohibition near National Highways within 60 days, the Supreme Court entrusted the task of facilitating uniform notifications across all States within the same period to which one of the following?

Q3. Which one of the following correctly identifies the proceeding in which the nationwide highway-safety directions of 2026 (In Re: Phalodi Accident) were issued?

Q4. The Supreme Court opened suo motu proceedings on highway safety after two road accidents on 2 and 3 November 2025, at Phalodi in Rajasthan and Rangareddy in Telangana. How many lives were lost in these two accidents taken together?

Q5. Development and maintenance works on National Highways in India are executed on an agency basis by which one of the following sets of agencies?

Q6. In the administration of National Highways, 'BhoomiRashi' refers to which one of the following?

Q7. The Indian Roads Congress was set up in 1934 by the Government of India, in consultation with the State Governments, on the recommendation of which one of the following?

Q10. In Kerala, the department that has taken the lead in contesting the highway construction-buffer directions and that handles the State's roads and bridges portfolio is:

Q11. Which one of the following pairs a direction actually issued by the Supreme Court in its 2026 highway-safety judgment with the authority correctly charged to carry it out?