How can highways be blocked perpetually, asks Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 30

As farmers protesting against farm laws continue to block key roads connecting Delhi to the NCR, the Supreme Court on Thursday wondered how highways could be blocked perpetually and made it clear that it was the duty of the executive to implement the laws laid down by it.

Hearing on Oct 4

On Thursday, the SC allowed the Centre to file a formal application to make farmer unions a party to the plea seeking removal of road blockade at Delhi-UP border. It and posted the matter for further hearing on October 4.

“The redressal of problems can be through judicial forum, agitation or through parliamentary debates. But how can the highways be blocked and this is happening perpetually. Where does this end?” a Bench led by Justice SK Kaul asked.

“We may lay down a law but how to implement the law is your (the government’s) business. The court can’t implement it. It is the executive which has to implement it,” it noted while hearing a petition filed by Monicca Agarwal, a women resident of Noida, on the issue.

Agarwal — a single parent with some medical issues — alleged that due to blockade of roads by the agitating farmers, travelling between Noida and Delhi was taking two hours instead of the usual 20 minutes and that it had become a nightmare to commute.

Maintaining that “democracy and dissent go hand in hand”, the top court had on October 7, 2020, ruled that roads and public spaces couldn’t be blocked indefinitely and demonstrations expressing dissent had to be in designated places alone.

On Thursday, it allowed the Centre to file a formal application to make farmer unions a party to the plea seeking removal of road blockade on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border at UP Gate here and posted the matter for further hearing on October 4.

“When we lay down the law, you will say it is encroachment and we trespassed into the domain of the executive. This has ramifications but there are also grievances which need to be addressed. This cannot be a perpetual problem,” the Bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who said when it was invited, it couldn’t be termed encroachment.

Earlier, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj told the court that the government had convened a meeting with protesting farmers, the details of which were there in the affidavit.

Mehta said a three-member committee was formed at the highest level to address farmers’ grievances but their representatives refused to join talks.

At Mehta’s request, the court allowed him to file an application to make farmers’ unions a party to the case. Mehta said the Centre would file the application by Friday.

Earlier, the Haryana Government had told the SC that it was making “sincere” efforts to remove the blockade.

The Uttar Pradesh Government had also filed a similar affidavit stating it was making all efforts to convince farmers that their act of blocking roads was causing grave inconvenience to commuters.

The SC had on August 23 asked the Centre and governments of UP and Haryana to find a solution to the blockade of roads. The farmers have a right to protest, but they can’t block the traffic, a Bench had said.