CDS (II) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 100 of 120

Correct — B, NHAI conducts training of Highway Engineers at entry level and in-service. This is the one statement that does not describe the National Highways Authority of India. NHAI was constituted under the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 and became operational on 10 February 1995, and section 16 of that Act sets out what it may do. Its core duty is to develop, maintain and manage the national highways vested in or entrusted to it; the enumerated functions then include regulating and controlling the plying of vehicles on those highways, developing and providing consultancy and construction services in India and abroad while carrying on research, and collecting fees on behalf of the Central Government for the services rendered under section 7 of the National Highways Act, 1956. Options (a), (c) and (d) are those clauses restated. Nowhere does the Act make the training of highway engineers an NHAI function, and it does not need to: entry-level and in-service training of highway engineers is the standing job of the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, a registered society run jointly by the Central and State Governments.

• (a)NHAI collects fees on the National Highway. — This is a statutory function. NHAI collects fees on behalf of the Central Government for services or benefits rendered under section 7 of the National Highways Act, 1956 — the legal basis of highway tolling.
• (c)NHAI provides consultancy and construction services in India and abroad. — Also statutory, and the wording is close to the Act's own: NHAI may develop and provide consultancy and construction services in India and abroad and carry on research activities.
• (d)NHAI regulates and controls the plying of vehicles for its proper management. — Another enumerated function — regulating and controlling the plying of vehicles on the highways vested in, or entrusted to, it, for their proper management.

The National Highways Authority of India is a statutory authority created by the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 and made operational in February 1995 to develop, maintain and manage the national highways entrusted to it. It is the executing agency for the large national-highway programmes, it tolls the stretches it builds, and it may sell its engineering expertise as consultancy inside and outside India. Policy for the sector sits with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; NHAI is the delivery arm, not the ministry and not the sector's training institution.

A 'not correct' item on a statutory body is usually decided by knowing which functions the parent Act actually lists. Three of these four options are near-quotations of section 16 and read like the law because they are the law. The fourth sounds plausible only because large public authorities do run internal capacity building — but training highway engineers, at entry and in service, has its own dedicated institution, the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, a registered society of the Centre and the States together. NDA candidates were asked about that Academy directly in 2018, which makes the two questions a matched pair worth learning together.

• NHAI was constituted under the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 and became operational on 10 February 1995; its first chairman was Yogendra Narain.
• Section 16 of the Act gives NHAI the duty of developing, maintaining and managing the national highways vested in or entrusted to it.
• Listed functions include regulating and controlling the plying of vehicles on those highways, providing consultancy and construction services in India and abroad with research, and collecting fees for the Central Government under section 7 of the National Highways Act, 1956.
• Entry-level and in-service training of highway engineers belongs to the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, a registered society jointly of the Central and State Governments.
• Policy and administration for the sector rest with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which NHAI reports to.

• Assuming an executing authority must also be the sector's training body — highway engineer training has a separate institution.
• Dating NHAI to 1988. That is the Act; the Authority began functioning in February 1995.
• Reading 'consultancy and construction services abroad' as an overreach — the Act expressly allows it.

Usually as a 'which statement is not correct' item built from the functions clause of a statutory body's parent Act, or as a body-to-ministry match.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Highways Authority of India was constituted under an Act of which year, and began functioning in which year?

  • (a)Act of 1956; functioning from 1988
  • (b)Act of 1988; functioning from 1995
  • (c)Act of 1995; functioning from 2000
  • (d)Act of 1988; functioning from 1988

  Answer(b) Act of 1988; functioning from 1995 — the National Highways Authority of India Act was passed in 1988 and the Authority became operational on 10 February 1995.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Entry-level and in-service training of highway engineers in India is the responsibility of

  • (a)The National Highways Authority of India
  • (b)The Indian Academy of Highway Engineers
  • (c)The Central Road Research Institute
  • (d)The Border Roads Organisation

  Answer(b) The Indian Academy of Highway Engineers — a registered society run jointly by the Central and State Governments.