(1)The highway authority may with the previous approval of the State Government, prescribe a standard width for any highway in its charge.(2)The standard width may be different in different portions of the same highway according to local needs.(3)When a highway authority proposes to prescribe a standard width in respect of any highway or a portion thereof, it shall notify the proposal in the official gazette and invite objections, if any, to be submitted to it within sixty days of the date of publication of the notification.(4)The notification shall also be published in at least two newspapers, one at least of which shall be in the local language, circulating in the locality where the highway is situated, and, in addition, copies of the notification shall be prominently displayed in a number or places in the locality.(5)All objections received within the prescribed period shall be taken into account by the highway authority before finalising its proposal for submission to the State Government.(6)The State Government may reject or sanction the proposal with or without modifications, and shall publish their orders in the official gazette.(7)When the State Government's orders sanctioning the proposal with or without modification has been issued, the highway authority shall cause further publicity to be given to the standard width, as finally approved, the same manner as prescribed, in sub-section (4), and the records so published shall thereupon be conclusive proof that the standard width so determined and recorded therein has been correctly determined and recorded.(8)In the determining the standard width, the highway authority and the State Government shall take into account the requirements of public health and welfare and of safety and convenience for all classes of traffic, including pedestrians and cyclists likely to use the highway.(9)The standard width so determined may at any time be altered but the procedure for such alteration shall be the same as prescribed for the determination of the original standard width.(10)The highway authority shall, as early as economically practicable after the prescription of the standard width, acquire either by direct negotiation or, failing such negotiation, by compulsory acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, all land lying within the standard width not already forming part of the highway land.
