The petitioner contended that Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress, and those accompanying him in the march, are occupying the entire breadth of the public roads through which they are traveling. Thereby, the movement of the public and vehicles are totally blocked for hours together preventing free flow of traffic and movement of pedestrians.
He claimed that he had sent a request the State Police Headquarters to take immediate steps to alleviate the hardship suffered by the general public arising out of the yatra.
“Section 4 of the Kerala Public Ways (Restriction of Assemblies and Procession) Act 2011, deals with the prohibition of obstruction on public ways and as per sub section (1) of Section 4, Section 5 of the Kerala Public Ways (Restriction of Assemblies and Procession) Act 2011, authorizes the District Police Chief to impose reasonable restrictions on the right of obstructed movement of the public along public ways,” the plea said.
It was further argued that the State police is also bound to collect the fees from the licensees for deploying enough personnel to cover the Yatra.
Therefore, the plea sought orders from the Court to permit the participants of the Yatra to occupy only half the road and leave the other half for the free movement of the vehicles and the public.
Source: Barandbench
