Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court
on Thursday ruled that there shall be no construction on either side
of any motorable road without prior permission of PWD.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph
and Justice Sanjay Karol ruled that the restriction shall be
applicable to both government and private buildings.
There shall be no construction on either side of any
motorable road without obtaining prior clearance from the
concerned Assistant Engineer of the PWD and no relaxation for
construction be given on the "actual road width" which
included the area acquired for construction of the road.
The order was passed on a petition filed by an advocate,
Tarlok Chauhan.
People are generally not aware of their duty to leave
sufficient margin for the development of road. It is
appropriate that some safeguards were made in the larger
public interest with regard to the maintenance, protection and
improvement of roads, the court said.
The court also directed the Public Works Department to
keep in mind the possibility of development of motorable road
on either side while processing the request for construction
on roadside and to take a final decision on the application
within 45 days.
The court further directed the PWD to ensure that there
was no construction on the actual width meant for the road in
any place and clarified that the actual width of the road
would not only mean tarred surface but also the width meant
for road at the time of acquisition for the road.
The court said that inspite of two legislations, namely
The Himachal Pradesh Roadside Land Control Act, 1968, and The
Himachal Pradesh Road Infrastructure Protection Act, 2002,
intended to achieve laudable objectives, apparently, there was
hardly any space for development of roads on either side due
to lack of proper enforcement.
PTI
