Public roads should not be blocked in protests: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday hearing a plea against the ongoing farmer protest on Delhi borders has said that public roads should not be blocked during protests.

The court was hearing a plea filed by a woman resident of Noida who sought direction to ensure that the road between Noida to Delhi is kept clear so that the passage is not affected.

There should be free flow of traffic on roads, the apex court said.

The top court also impleads Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments as parties in the case against blocking of roads due to farmers protest.

The court made it clear that the larger issue on farm laws can be decided judicially, politically or administratively but the common man must not be inconvenienced.

"We clarified that we are not concerned with larger issue but only concerned with flow of traffic. Public streets should not be blocked," a Bench headed by Justice SK Kaul said.

The Bench emphasized that in its previous judgements the apex court had made it clear that roads should not be blocked.

"We are not concerned how you (goverment) resolve this issue, whether politically, administratively or legally. But we have said this before, roads should not be blocked. It cannot create continuing inconvenience," the Bench said.

This is a single mother who has to face so many issues because of these blocked roads, said the Bench while posting the matter for hearing on April 19.

Earlier, the apex court had sought response from the Central government and Delhi Police Commissioner on the petition filed by the Noida resident Monica Agarwal who claimed that her travel to Delhi was taking two hours instead of the normal 20 minutes.

She contended that despite the various directions passed by the apex court to keep the to and fro passage clear (the road), the same had still not happened.

Being a single parent who has some medical issues, Agarwaal said that it has become a nightmare to travel to Delhi. The plea said she stayed and worked in Noida, but since she had a marketing job she had to travel frequently to Delhi.

"It is her say that she is a single parent and also has some medical issues andit has become a nightmare to travel to Delhi where it is taking two hours instead of normal 20 minutes. She contends that despite the various directions passed by this Court to keep the to and fro passage clear (the roads), the same still does not happen. We did put to her if it is so, it is an administrative failure as the judicial view has already been propounded by us," the Bench had noted in its order.

( With inputs from ANI )