The Supreme Court has stayed an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court asking authorities to clear the Chandigarh-Mohali road blocked by a group of protesters.
A bench of justices BR Gavai, Satish Chandra Sharma and Sandeep Mehta issued notice on a plea of the Punjab government and sought the response of an NGO, which has filed the plea, the Centre and the Chandigarh administration among others.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said it is supporting the stand of the Punjab government. Mehta said, “Federalism is always protected except when it comes to corruption. In Covid times, every state and the Centre worked together.”
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh said the high court order be stayed. In its orders dated April 9, passed in a batch of PILs, the high court said despite repeated opportunities given, neither the state of Punjab nor the Union territory of Chandigarh has been able to give any redressal to the commuters of Chandigarh and SAS Nagar Mohali. “On account of a handful of people sitting and blocking the road, inconvenience is being caused to the commuters and residents of the Tri-city and the misery is continuing,” it had said.
It had noted that the Centre was also impleaded as party on October 9 last year in the matter. It is also to be noticed that the Director General of Police, Punjab, had also been summoned in the matter almost one year ago. “Only on account of the fact that some of the protestors have been hiding behind a shield of religious legitimacy by placing the Guru Granth Sahib would not as such give the State reason not to act against the persons concerned, who are misusing the religious sentiments,” it had said.
The high court said it is also apparent from the photographs which have been placed on record that there is no large gathering. “In spite of the fact that it is well known that all the agitators from the rural background are busy in harvesting and it is most opportune time to remove the blockage of the road, the State of Punjab and the Union Territory, Chandigarh, are dragging their feet for the reasons best known to them,” it had said in its interim order.
The high court, while deferring the proceedings, further said it is hoping the Punjab and Chandigarh administration will wake up from their slumber and keep in mind the observations of the apex court given in various verdicts related to protests on roads. The high court had passed the order on a plea of NGO Arrive Safe Society which contended that local residents and commuters are facing unnecessary harassment because of the protest/morcha on the Chandigarh-Mohali road that have been ongoing since January 2023. The protesters have been seeking the release of Sikh prisoners, including Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in the former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination, and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict.
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