It was a triumph for residents of J.C. Nagar and surrounding areas when the Karnataka High Court directed the Army to permit civilians to use the Savarlane Road and Deshraj Road, both of which had been closed for public use since January 23.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice Manjula Chellur, passed the order on petitions by A.P Suresh and others questioning the decision of the Parachute Regiment Training Centre (PRTC) to close the roads for public use.
The petitioners said the PRTC first decided to close the roads for public use in 1994. Claiming that the roads belonged to it, the centre had barred the public from using them. The petitioners then approached the court.
Security concerns
On March 12, 2003, the High Court passed interim orders directing the PRTC to permit the roads to be used by the public. Since then, the public was being permitted to use it. Things changed on January 23, 2010 when the PRTC, citing security concerns during the Republic Day function, closed the roads to traffic.
When the matter came up on Friday, the petitioners said the road connects J.C. Nagar with Modi Gardens and Kavalbyrasandra. They said the closure of the roads was causing inconvenience to them. They urged the court to direct the PRTC to allow the public to use the road.
The Army defended the closure citing security concerns. It said the road belongs to it and it was never a public road. The Bench then said when no untoward incident had happened from 2003 till 2010 when it was being used by the public, how could there be any apprehension now. It directed the PRTC to throw open the road to the public.
The BBMP, on its part, said it is ready to take up maintenance of the roads once they are transferred to it.
