The Madras High Court on Monday said that it expected the police not to disturb free movement of motor vehicles on road for more than five to 10 minutes while making way for the convoys of the Governor, Chief Justice and Chief Minister of the State. It, however, added that the stipulation may not apply to high-level dignitaries such as the President who visit the State occasionally and fall under the high-security category.
Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose made the observation while refusing to entertain a writ petition filed last year seeking a direction to the Home Secretary to initiate action against the Commissioner of Police and two Deputy Commissioners of Police, in-charge of Traffic in North and South Chennai, for having blocked traffic at NSC Bose Road between 5.30 p.m. and 6.40 p.m. on March 22, 2017.
‘Not official visit’
The petitioner, S. Doraisamy, an advocate by profession, had claimed that the traffic was blocked for movement of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s convoy not when he was proceeding on official duty but when he was campaigning for the R.K. Nagar byelection. Contending that many motorists were put to severe hardship, the petitioner said that he too could not keep up an appointment with his doctor on that day.
However, observing that the court could not go into disputed questions of facts while exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, the judges said that a direction could not be issued to initiate penal action against officials solely on the basis of averments made by the petitioner in his affidavit. The Chief Justice said the petitioner, in the alternative, could have taken the alleged hardship faced by people to the knowledge of the Chief Minister.
