The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Chennai Police Commissioner to file an affidavit stating specifically and categorically that no one would be allowed to encroach the pavement/flanks on either side of roads henceforth.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam passed the interim order on a contempt petition by K.R. Ramaswamy alias ‘Traffic' Ramasamy, a social activist.
Earlier, Mr. Ramasamy had filed a writ petition seeking a direction to the authorities to remove the encroachments on roads and pavement on arterial roads. By an order in 2007, the court had given some direction to the authorities. In the contempt petition, Mr. Ramasamy said the Chennai Corporation and the Chennai Police authorities had deliberately disobeyed the court order. When the petition came up, the Corporation Commissioner, P.W.C. Davidar, tendered an unconditional apology to the court in implementing the order belatedly which was not wilful. He said he had the highest regard for the court order. As per the direction of the hawking committee, 296 hawkers had been identified on NSC Bose Road from Mint Street to Broadway Road. Shops were allotted and hawkers had been issued identity cards. Action had already been taken for reallocating hawkers on NSC Bose Road as per the committee's direction. Unauthorised hawkers who had encroached on NSC Bose Road had already been removed with the help of local police. The civic body was duly following the court direction.
