CHANDIGARH:
Observing that the UT administration had been "stonewalling" the court directions over making Sector 17-E a no-vehicle and pedestrian friendly zone for quite long, the Punjab and Haryana high court said neither the authorities were open to new ideas as proposed by the court nor were they taking any measures.
Special division bench comprising justice Surya Kant and justice Ajay Tewari suggested that 400 vehicles being accommodated in the parking lot in front of Empire Stores can be shifted to a ground near RBI, on pilot basis for a month.
The municipal corporation had informed the court that there was no alternative space available for accommodating vehicles if Sector-17 parking lot was made vehicle-free.
The bench observed that the suggestion of making the parking lot a no-vehicle zone was being opposed "tooth and nail" by the administration and when the bench suggested of removing 400 cars from the parking lot to some other place just to check results, the authorities were diverting court's mind that by saying they were coming up with multi-level parking lots, which would take time.
"Unless you have a long-term policy based on people's feedback and research, nothing is going to work. For many months, we have been wasting time. Who are officials delaying it? At least, tell us," it said.
However, the senior UT standing counsel told the bench that the administration was making all-out efforts to come up with a concrete plan but there were many practical problems in way.
The court issued the directions to amicus curiae (friend of court) advocate APS Shergill, Rita Kohli and Navdeep Asija to visit Sector-17 parking lot and give detailed report by Wednesday.
Directions were also issued to the MC to extend cooperation to the advocates in order to come out with a solution. The case would now come up for hearing on May 18.
Hindustan Times,
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