-1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR O R D E R Mahendra Lodha Vs. State of Rajasthan D.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.6073/1993 UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. Date of Order: February 19, 2007 P R E S E N T HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE N.N.MATHUR HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MANAK MOHTA Mr.M.Mridul, Senior Advocate, assisted by Mr.P.S.Chundawat, for the petitioner. Mr.N.M.Lodha, Additional Advocate General. Mr.M.R.Singhvi ) Mr.Sanjeev Johari) for U.I.T. Mr.R.S.Saluja, for Municipal Corporation. Mr.J.P.Joshi ) Mr.Ravi Bhansali) for Border Road Organization. Mr.Manish Shishodia, for Pollution Control Board. REPORTABLE BY THE COURT : (PER HON'BLE MR.MATHUR J.) 1. A man is known by the Company, he keeps and a City is known by Environment and Road System it keeps, -2- Jodhpur heritage has some of the medieval flavour and ambience dotted places havelis, temples and houses washed in pale blue. The City and its people live in warfare gaze of imposing Mehrangarh Fort. The City continues to be thriving centre for handicrafts, sandstones, Steel re-rolling and other miscellaneous industries. It is the judicial capital of the State of Rajasthan. The environmental problems are gaining significance because of the rapid population growth, the aggressive speed of urbanization, lack of infrastructure and to add this, illegal concrete jungle coming up across the City unabated. A public spirited and vigilant citizen of this City viz; Shri Mahendra Lodha by way of instant petition, has voiced grievance that the City is facing environmental problem because of lack lustre attitude of the Government, ineffective local bodies i.e. Municipal Corporation and the U.I.T. and lack of belongingness of some of the selfish attitude people. 2. It is averred that the extra ordinary increase in the number of vehicles, smoke, vapour, spark, ashes, grit & oil emissions have totally polluted the environment of City of Jodhpur. It is also averred that the greatest villains of peace are tempos and trucks, as they emit smoke, vapour, ash in disregard to the statutory provisions. It is emphasized that the things have reached to the stage where one is almost inhaling poison on all -3- the busy roads of Jodhpur City. 3. Thus, the instant petition essentially pertains to the environment and the traffic management in the City of Jodhpur. The problem is not that simple, as it has many facets. The mere widening of roads or providing new roads do not solve the problem connected with the traffic of a city or town. The traffic management includes regulations for traffic control and guiding measures of traffic flow or traffic congestion, parking areas, roads system affecting traffic operations, engineering elements of road system, the conditions of automobiles, encroachments on roads, buildings abating the roads, cleanness and sanitation of roads and so on. The heavy rush of vehicles and pedestrians during peak hours of the day, results into overcrowding of road. Such condition is referred-to as traffic congestion and it develops due to various factors including faulty intersections, narrowness of roads, steep curves, haphazard parking of vehicles, physical encroachment on roads, absence of civic sense and lack of strict enforcement of traffic rules. The traffic congestion makes the surrounding area polluted with undesirables gases, vapour and odour increasing the chance of accidents. Driving through the traffic congested area becomes more tedious and it adversely affects on health of drivers of the vehicles and others. The people are to waste lot of time during traffic jams. It also causes -4- more wear & tear of the vehicle. There is national wastage of petrol and gasoline used for running automobiles because they do not attain the optimum speed for which they are designed. Thus, taking all this into account, this Court by order dated 26th July, 2000 directed the Collector and District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and the R.T.O., Jodhpur to frame an appropriate scheme after taking into confidence the transport Operators, Lorry owners, various owners of the three wheelers' Association, Transport Association etc. The District Administration after having interactions with different organizations by way of workshops and meetings in smaller groups and after due deliberations submitted the scheme for proper traffic management in the City of Jodhpur. One and all present in the Court expressed that the things have gone out of control and it has not been possible for the authorities to control the situation without the judicial intervention. Inspite of the fact that petition is pending since 1993 and the menace instead of being controlled, continued to grow in perpetuation of this hazard to public safety, it was felt that it has become necessary for this Court to issue certain directions which were required to be promptly implemented to achieve the required results. Thus, this Court by a detailed order dated 21.11.2000 reported in 2001(1) RLW(Raj) 463 (Mahendra Lodha vs. State of Rajasthan), issued wide ranging directions and since then, continuously -5- monitoring the compliance of the orders of this Court. During the long period of six years, number of compliance reports have been submitted by the different departments. There have been pleasant and unpleasant occasions; pleasant in the sense that this Court appreciated the effective steps taken by different authorities and unpleasant because on various occasions, the authorities were pulled up inasmuch as on certain occasions, contempt proceedings were also initiated. There have been occasions of resistance of the orders of this Court. Thus, we proceed to take stock of the work undertaken during the period of six years as follows: MOVEMENT OF HEAVY TRAFFIC WITHIN THE CITY AREA: 4. It was realized that on account of location of large number of transport Companies inside the City i.e. Jalori Gate, Old Stadium Maidan, near Olympic Cinema, Station Road and Paota `B' Road, there has been movement of heavy vehicles throughout the City causing traffic congestion and mismanagement. It was also brought to our notice that a decision was taken more than 20 years back for shifting of all the transport Companies outside the City in Transport Nagar established at Basni. Almost all the transport Companies were allotted commercial plots at concessional rates at the Truck -6- Terminus, Basni. The plots were allotted at concessional rates on the condition that they will shift to the newly allotted place of business within a period of one year. However, because of the political or money clout, they managed to continue to run their business from the locations inside the City. Thus, considering the gravity of the problem and defiance attitude of the transport Companies, strict directions were given for shifting all the transport Companies outside the city within a period of one week and in the event of furnishing an undertaking, within a period of three weeks. A complete ban was imposed on entry of heavy vehicles inside the City with effect from 8.12.2000. It was further directed that the violation of directions will lead to cancellation of the licenses of the trucks under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act and seizure of the same. The vehicles were not allowed to be released by any authority except with the permission of this Court. The order was subsequently modified only to the extent that heavy vehicles will be permitted in the City only for the limited purpose for loading and unloading of goods during night hours i.e. 10 P.M. to 7 A.M. However, they were not permitted to park inside the City, even during the night time. For essential services during the day time, trucks were permitted for a specified period and that too, on permission being granted by the District Magistrate. At the initial stage, the transport Companies showed their attitude of defiance and -7- applications were also filed by the transport Companies for recalling the order. The order was challenged before the Apex Court by way of filing the Special Leave Petition, which came to be rejected by order dated 9/4/2001. The order of the Apex Court is extracted as follows: “We are happy to note that atleast one High Court is taking trouble of cleaning up the area of its City in which it is situated. Following the orders of this Court in M.C.Mehta's case, we see no reason to interfere with the directions, so issued. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed.” 5. The Court also ensured that the facilities are given to the transport Companies in the Transport Nagar. The compliance report was filed stating that all the transport Companies have shifted to the Transport Nagar and that the U.I.T. has provided necessary facilities to the transport Companies. The U.I.T. also indicated its intention to establish two more Transport and Automobile Nagars. In the final compliance report, it is stated that the Basni Truck Terminus has been fully developed. There exist no transport Company inside the City. The Transport and Automobile Nagar has been established in village Aangana and the other Transport Nagar is proposed in village Vivek Vihar Yojna. -8- 6. On account of complete ban of entry of heavy vehicles inside the City, the police established five Check Posts on all Entry points of the City and diverted the movement of heavy vehicles through alternate routes. The trucks coming from Bikaner-Nagaur side were directed to pass through Mandore Chungi Naka meeting at Jaipur-Jodhpur Road. The vehicles from Delhi – Jaipur side were diverted to move towards Barmer- Jaisalmer and use another route through Dangiawas. The District Magistrate, Jodhpur by order dated 29.11.2000 specified the route of the vehicles coming from Bikaner, Jaisalmer and vice versa. DEFENCE VEHICLES: 7. Directions were also given with respect to check of heavy vehicles belonging to different services i.e. Army and Air Force. As per the directions given, a meeting was convened in the office of the Divisional Commissioner along with the officials of the Army and Air Force. It is reported that the meeting was fruitful and it was agreed that heavy vehicles of the Defence Service shall follow the traffic rules punctually, they will not enter in the busy area of the City and park at the places determined for them. -9- 8. The resultant effect of the orders is that now, Jodhpur is one City in which almost no heavy vehicles are seen moving, except few vehicles permitted by the District Magistrate for essential services. BYEPASS: 9. On account of complete prohibition of heavy vehicles in the city, it has become necessary to ensure that the existing alternate routes are made roadworthy and further Byepass is provided. At the initial stage, the repairing work was undertaken to provide the alternate routes. The State Government was directed to prepare a plan to provide the byepass. It was brought to our notice that there existed a plan for providing a byepass for different routes but the same was not given priority by the Director General of Roads, Ministry of Surface Transport, New Delhi. Even the letter of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan at the relevant time to the Hon'ble Minister of Surface Transport did not yield result. Thus, a direction was given to the Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India, to take a project on top priority. The Chief Engineer and the Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India was asked to visit the City of Jodhpur alongwith other senior officers of the State Government. The meeting was convened at Jodhpur on 15th January, 2001. -10- Accordingly, the project was given priority at the State level as well as the Central level. The job was entrusted to Border Road Organization. The byepass was to be completed by March, 2005. The job was not completed during the scheduled time, for which, the Border Road Organization pointed out certain difficulties. At the first instance, they wanted some time for construction of bridge on Jojari river. Another was construction of flyover on the design being given by the Railway Administration. This Court gave a deadline to make the road functional atleast by providing a temporary causeway on the Jojari river and a temporary Railway Crossing near village Sangaria. We are happy to note that the road has been made functional. A prayer has been made by the Railway Administration to give some more time for construction of flyover. A similar prayer has been made by the Border Road Organization for construction of bridge on the Jojari river. The resultant position is that out of total length of the byepass i.e. 48.6 kms., the construction has been made to the extent of 39 kms. On construction of bridge on Jojari river, flyover as indicated above and completion of left out road of 9 km, entire traffic of all the routes presently passing through the City, will be diverted through said byepass. This will not only make the City free from traffic congestion but will also change the complexion of the City in big way. We hope and trust that the Bypass shall be made operational in full -11- swing latest by September, 2007. FLYOVERS: 10. At this stage, we may also refer to the provisions for construction of the flyovers. In order to make the traffic smooth, the A.D.B. Undertook to construct flyovers at five places i.e. Mandore, Basni, Rasala Road and Mohanpura. It is reported that except Mohanpura, all the four flyovers have been constructed. It is also reported that the construction of Mohanpura-Nai Sarak flyover has not been accepted. Certain serious fatal defects in the design of the flyovers at Mandore and Basni have been pointed out. The defective design has made the area accident prone. We take serious view of the matter. If the Department does not take corrective measures within a period of two months, they shall be liable for heavy compensation in cases of accidents. The T.M.C. should look into the matter seriously. PAL ROAD: 11. This Court also gave direction by order dated 25.11.2000 not to allow any encroachment on the Pal Road and to keep the width of the road not less than 200 ft. as provided in the Master Plan. Keeping in view the Barmer – Jaisalmer byepass, Pal Road -12- will emerge as significant entry road, the Town Planners must keep this aspect in their view. All the encroachments on Pal Road to keep the width of the road not less than 200 ft. must be positively removed within a period of three months. TRAFFIC POLICE & THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT: 12. It was reported that 436 tempos were plying in the City. In addition, there were three wheelers, City buses and Mini buses. These vehicles were identified as one of the major cause of pollution. Thus, on careful consideration of the entire matter, a complete ban was imposed on moving of tempos on the main roads i.e. from Darpan Cinema to Sojati Gate, Railway Station and Jalori Gate. The number of City buses was also directed to be reduced to 250. It was also directed that on the main roads of the City, public vehicles more than 12 years' old, shall not be permitted to ply. Further, no vehicle shall be allowed to ply in the City unless it carries the valid permission under the pollution control certificate. The Court also took note of rash driving of the taxi drivers and misbehaviour of the drivers at public places. Thus, a direction was given to prescribe the uniform for the drivers. The owners of the City Buses or the tempos were directed to furnish the names of the drivers to the Dy.S.P. -13- (Traffic). Other conditions to discipline the drivers were also imposed. In order to check the excessive speed, a direction was given that no City Bus will be allowed to ply unless it is fitted with the suitable speed control device. It was also found that the traffic police is not equipped with the recovery van to be utilized for towing the vehicles parked in No Parking Zone or committing other parking offences. The police was also not equipped with the speed detecting device. Directions were also given to check misuse of red lights on vehicles by unauthorized persons. The vehicles were found fitted with multi tone horns giving succession to different horns or producing unduly harsh, shrill or alarming noise by some sort of device fitted. The police was directed to check the same. A direction was also given to give the additional duty to the C.J.M. to ensure the compliance of orders of this Court with respect to traffic management. 13. The Regional Transport Authority as well as the Deputy S.P. by way of filing affidavit reported that all the tempos have been baned from plying on the main road starting from Darpan Cinema to Jalori Gate via Sojati Gate and Railway Station. The alternate route has been provided behind the Public Park. The number of City Buses plying on the main road has been reduced as per the orders of this Court. The plying of buses and tempos has been re-scheduled. City buses have been painted with red -14- and yellow strips. It has been scheduled that the City Buses carrying yellow strips will run on the main road of the City from 1st to 15th of every month and City Buses carrying red strips on main roads of City from 16th to the end of month. This mechanism has reduced the number of City buses plying in the City from 500 to 250. Neither permits are issued nor renewal to any transport vehicle is granted which is of more than 15 years' old. The R.T.A. has prescribed khaki dress for the drivers of the City Buses. The drivers violating the conditions imposed, have been seriously dealt with. As regards the pollution control certificate, the District Transport Officer (Enforcement) alongwith four flyings regularly conduct inspections. The suitable speed control devices have been installed in all the City Buses. It has checked the fast movement of the buses in the crowded City area controlling their speed. Regular reports are being made to the Traffic Management Committee. The Government has posted four inspectors and four sub inspectors alongwith other police team for checking the vehicles particularly to ensure the compliance of orders of this Court. It is reported that the Transport Department is continuously checking the City Buses and keeping close vigil to ensure smooth flow in the City. -15- PARKING: 14. The directions were given to the U.I.T. to provide for pay parking for the private buses. It was further directed that any private bus found parked outside the pay parking area, shall face the consequence of prosecution under the Motor Vehicles Act including suspension or cancellation of the permit. On a subsequent date, there was a detailed deliberation with respect to pay parking and other parking in the City. As a result of discussion, following places were identified for establishing the pay parking: “i. Main Pali Road – just adjacent to Sulabh Complex near New Campus; ii. Shastri Circle to New Power House Road (Section-7) outside the boundary wall of the office of the Chief Engineer, G.W.D., Jodhpur; iii. Main Balotra road to New Power House – outside CAZRI office; iv. Akhaliya Choraya to Soorsagar – At Kamla Nehru Nagar, Sector-A, Extension-1 existing Bus Stand near Railway Line; v. Kaylana Choraya to Kaylana Jheel – Opposite Meera Colony, outside the Machiya Safari Park hall; vi. Late Kalyan Singh Kalvi Bus Stand – R.T.O. Office – On the main Jodhpur – Jaipur road, parallel to Railway Line; vii. At the land situated on main Jodhpur – Jaipur road, -16- opp. Army area in between Gajsingh Nagar and BJS and old Chungi Naka.” 15. It was further reported that pay parking places inside the City area for two wheelers, four wheelers, private taxi have been identified as follows: “i. Ghantaghar – Nai Sadak Yojna; ii. Manji Ka Hatha Yojna; iii. Stadium Shopping Centre Yojna; iv. Between Stadium Cinema and Stadium Ground; v. Main Olympic road proceeding towards Nehru Park.” 16. Following parking places inside the City area have been identified: “i.Anand Cinema Area; ii. Ratanada Area; iii. Near Mohanpura Overbridge on left side; iv. Near Mohanpura Overbridge on right side; v.Thar Handloom Area; vi. Back side of Shanishcharji Than Area; vii. Near Bhati Softy & Softy inside Jalori Gate; viii. In front of Orthopadics Department, M.G.Hospital Area; ix. Gandhi Maidan, Sardarpura Area; x. Near Muse Khan Petrol Pump.” 17. It is reported that survey work in Sardarpura and Soorsagar Zone has been done and 111 places have been identified for parking. The U.I.T. has provided Pay Parking at 10 -17- places and Parking at 9 places. In pursuance of the order of this Court, the Chairman UIT constituted a team comprising of three Trustees and 4 officers of the U.I.T. to identify the places for parking. As per the recommendation of the said Committee, the Parking/Pay Parking places have been developed. The details of the Parking Places have been placed on record. It is also submitted that there are two commercial Schemes known as “Manji Ka Hatta” and “Shastri Nagar”. There is provision of inbuilt parking places in both these Schemes. In Manji Ka Hatta, there are 9 inbuilt parking places and so also in Shastri Nagar, there are 6 inbuilt parking places. The U.I.T. has ensured that the said Parking places shall be developed by lining, carpeting and putting Signing Boards etc. The U.I.T. has also identified 14 points for parking places, a list of the same has been given. A summary of the Parking Places has been given as follows: S.No. Particulars No.of places Capacity (E.C.U.) 1. Parking Places already notified (Annex.A) 16 443 2. Parking Places pointed out (Annex.B) 22 446 3. Inbuilt Parking Places in two scheme areas (Annex.C) 15 179 4. Newly identified parking places (Annex.D) 14 615 TOTAL 67 1683 18. It may also be stated that as per the practice, in each -18- parking place, 1/3 space is provided for parking of four wheelers, 1/3 space for three wheelers and so on. The Municipal Corporation has further identified 67 places for parking. It is also stated that the proposal for construction of multi storeyed parking near Mohanpura bridge has been approved. The Traffic police has also filed an affidavit that for proper parking of vehicles, the Crane interceptors have been deployed. The traffic Police has been deployed to maintain the traffic properly and not to permit the parking of vehicles at the places not earmarked as parking places. The parking of the vehicles in front of the multi storeyed buildings has been prohibited. It is insisted that parking should be done only where the area is marked in the approved plan. In case of multi storeyed buildings, it is insisted that the vehicles are parked only in the area, earmarked in the approved plan. 19. The efforts made for providing the Parking Places and efforts of the police for proper parking of the vehicles, have given substantial results in the improvement of traffic management in the City of Jodhpur. PARKING – MULTI STOREY BUILDINGS: 20. This Court by order dated 21.11.2000 while noticing the -19- fact that many of the building owners and commercial complexes have converted the parking places into shops and godowns, directed the Chief Executive Officer, Nagar Nigam, Jodhpur to make a survey and identify such buildings. It was observed that this Court will consider to issue a direction to remove such shops and godowns and take appropriate steps for parking of vehicles within the bounds of the buildings. A list of such buildings was submitted before this court. By another order dated 2nd March, 2001, the Corporation was directed to ensure that no construction of commercial or residential premises is raised at the main roads or the sub lanes in the city of Jodhpur irrespective of the earlier permission of the Municipal Corporation or order of any court except the High Court or the Supreme Court, unless it has a provision for adequate parking facility. It was further directed to ensure that construction is raised strictly in accordance with the approved plan else they may face demolition proceedings. An application was filed by one Ashok Chaudhary and