SC stays reopening of road outside Punjab CM’s home in Chandigarh

New Delhi: In an interim direction, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court order to reopen a road outside Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence in Chandigarh on an experimental basis.

Issuing notice on the plea filed by the AAP-led state government, a bench presided over by Justice Sanjiv Khanna stayed the operation of the impugned direction passed by the high court till September 2, the next date of listing.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, noted that both Union and Punjab governments have opposed the reopening of the road, which was blocked for security purposes during the Khalistani terrorism of the 1980s.

However, the apex court clarified that the high court may continue to deal with other aspects of the suo-moto proceedings about the traffic woes and infrastructure problems in Chandigarh.

In an order passed on April 22, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Chandigarh police to formulate a traffic management plan to ease the traffic congestion by opening the road outside the Punjab CM’s residence on an experimental basis from May 1.

“We all feel that the inputs as such regarding the threat of drones and the RPGs being used would go on to show that the opinion is based on a closed mind-set of the authorities who are insensitive to the general public’s convenience,” said a bench presided over by Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia.