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The Supreme Court has noted that roads should not be blocked for any reason whatsoever.

The observation came by a bench of Justice SK Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy in a plea seeking removal of blockades caused by protestors at the NCR borders, against the recent Farm Laws.

Court said that though every citizen had the right to protest, it was not to be done at the expense of blocking ingress and digress of traffic. Court said that the solution did in fact lay in the hands of Union of India.

The plea has been filed by Monicca Agarwaal alleging that that traveling to Delhi from Noida for her marketing job had become a nightmare as it took 2 hours instead of 20 minutes due to the protestors swarming the roads.

Today, the petitioner in person in this matter had some personal difficulty in appearing before the Court. Nonetheless, the bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to look for solutions for the issue in consultation with the States concerned.

The bench while allowing time to the Central Government to find a solution over the issue, has listed the matter for further hearing on September 20.

Background:

On April 19, 2021 bench comprising Justice SK Kaul & Justice Hemant Gupta while adjourning the plea's had remarked, "Don't obstruct the life of other people there. You may want to construct a village, and you can do that. But not at the cost of other's inconvenience.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had informed that an endeavor was being done from their side concerning the directions issued by this Court. 

The petitioner, appearing in person, had averred that despite the various directions passed by this Court to keep the to and fro passage clear (the roads), the same still did not happen.

On April 9, 2021, the Bench comprising Justice SK Kaul & Justice Hemant Gupta after perusing the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.2, impleaded the State of Haryana and the State of Uttar Pradesh as respondent Nos.3 and 4.

Solicitor General submitted for arranging representation on behalf of the State of Uttar Pradesh.

"We have clarified to the Solicitor General that we are not concerned with the larger issue but only limited to the aspect of free flow of traffic on the streets, i.e., the public streets should not be blocked. This is an aspect which has been repeatedly emphasized in different orders of this Court.", the order dated April 9, 2021 read.

On March 26, 2021, the Bench comprising Justice SK Kaul & Justice R Subhash Reddy took note of the administrative failure as the judicial view was already propounded by the Court & issued notice to the Respondents to ensure that the road area is kept clear so that the passage from one place to other is not affected.

Case Title: Monicca Agarwaal V. Union Of India & Anr| WP(C) 249 OF 2021