HC seeks proposal to address parking chaos around Ludhiana hotels  

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and the state of Punjab to file a proposal addressing the obstruction caused by vehicles parked near hotels in Ludhiana following inadequate parking facilities.

“The state of Punjab as well as Municipal Corporation are directed to file a proposal as to what is the viable solution for the acute and long- standing problem of roads being occupied for parking in respect of people frequenting the hotels,” the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal asserted.

The direction by the Bench came during the hearing of a petition filed in public interest against the state of Punjab and other respondents by Rohit Sabharwal through counsel Sardavinder Goyal and Nishant Sindhu on the "scarcity of space for parking available with the hotels" and resulting public inconvenience following obstruction caused by parking of vehicles.

Among other things, it was pointed out in the petition that many hotels in Ludhiana had been constructed in violation of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Building Bye-Laws 1997, besides their misusing the parking space for other commercial purposes.

Taking a note of the submissions, the Bench directed the counsel for the Municipal Corporation, as well as the state of Punjab, to come out with a proposal to resolve the situation. The court added that the corporation was an elected body, which was required to perform its municipal functions in accordance with the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976.

“The Act itself contains sufficient provisions for the Municipal Corporation to discharge its statutory duties, failing which, the state is competent to take coercive steps against the Municipal Corporation in case it fails to perform its municipal duties,” the Bench asserted. The case will now come up for further hearing before the Bench on January 15, 2025.