IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.5145 of 2011 Date of decision: 30th March, 2011 Aseem Takyar … Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI, CHIEF JUSTICE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Chanderhas Yadav, Advocate for the petitioner. 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. Whether to be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. In the present writ petition filed in public interest, the petitioner has sought a direction to the respondents to remove the permanent barricades constructed on a 30 meter wide Delhi National Highway in order to provide connectivity to the residents of village Dundahera and users and commuters of Udyog Vihar Phase-I to the NH-8 Express Highway road. The petitioner has assailed installation of permanent barricades on the ground that it has been done only to benefit the toll collection by a private concessionaire, who has built and is operating NH-8, i.e. Delhi-Jaipur Express Highway. Grievance of the petitioner is that this act of the respondents has resulted into traffic congestion at Shankar Chowk and has led to long traffic jams. The petitioner has demonstrated his grievance by relying upon a map (Annexure P-1). It is projected that after affixation of permanent barricades, only one entry and exit is available to the users of Phase-I to Civil Writ Petition No.5145 of 2011 Phase-V of Udyog Vihar (Industrial Area); to the residents of Sectors 21, 22, 23, 23-A, 4 and 5 of HUDA Gurgaon and also to the residents of village Dundahera and Palam Vihar (hereinafter called, ‘Area’). It is urged that about one lakh vehicles have only been provided one entry and exit point from Shankar Chowk and at the peak hours, it results into traffic blockade. A reference has been made to Annexure P-2, a document obtained from Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as, ‘HSIIDC’) under the Right to Information Act and it is stated that the authorities are already alive to this issue and have taken up the matter with respondent No.2-National Highway Authority of India and has requested them to provide an exit from Phase-I, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon to ease the traffic jams/bottlenecks at Shankar Chowk, as it also affects movement of traffic on internal roads of Udyog Vihar. A perusal of the document (Annexure P-2) reveals that the authorities have also suggested construction of additional toll plaza near the place where permanent barricade has been affixed. Furthermore, our attention has been drawn to various communications addressed by Divisional Town Planner, HSIIDC to the Chief Town Planner, HSIIDC (Annexure P-3); Managing Director, HSIIDC to the Principal Secretary to Govt. of Haryana, PWD (B&R), Chandigarh (Annexure P-4); and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Gurgaon to the Managing Director, HSIIDC (Annexure P-5), wherein it has been stressed that an exit point be provided to the commuters of the Area to use the Express Highway and additional toll plazas be installed to safeguard the interests of the concessionaire. A heavy reliance has also been placed upon the newspaper reports carried in various newspapers (Annexures P-8 to P-12) to urge that the public at large is facing inconvenience. Resident Welfare Associations have also launched agitation and have held ‘Raasta Kholo Demonstration’. 2 Civil Writ Petition No.5145 of 2011 Permanent fixture of barricades on a 30 meter wide road and non-access to inhabitants of the Area to the Express Highway, according to counsel for the petitioner, has disrupted smooth flow of traffic; and therefore, it has led to wastage of time and fuel energy. However, we are unable to subscribe to the argument that this has only been done to promote commercial interest of the private concessionaire, as it is a well known fact that on an Express Highway, entry cannot be provided at random, as traffic from the sideways has to merge smoothly with the traffic coming at a high speed on the Express Highway. Concerns of the authorities to prevent accidents and save precious human lives cannot be brushed aside lightly. Therefore, we are of the view that it is for the experts, who have got specialization, to regulate the traffic, to redress the grievances of the petitioner. Various communications (Annexures P-3 to P-6) between the officials depict that the authorities are already alive to the issues raised by the petitioner. It is a well acknowledged judicial maxim that courts should not usurp the role of experts and should grant due sanctity to the judgment of officials of the State, who are seized of the matter. Therefore, we dispose of the present writ petition by directing the respondents to sympathetically consider the issues raised by the petitioner in this petition, taking overall comprehensive view of the prevailing situation. We do believe and trust that respondents No.1 to 3, 5 and 6, being experts and entrusted with the job, will adopt humane approach in solving the problems projected in the present petition. [RANJAN GOGOI] CHIEF JUSTICE [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE March 30, 2011 rps 3