New Delhi: Observing that court cannot find a solution to all the ills in the country, the Supreme Court on Friday said it does not have a magic wand to create a Ram Rajya.
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, heading a three-judge bench dealing with a PIL filed by NGO Voice of India seeking a blanket order directing authorities all over the country to remove encroachments from footpaths, asked: “Can we order that all the footpaths in India should be cleared? We cannot order that all corruption in India should be stopped. We cannot order that murders should come to an end. All abductions should stop. We cannot bring about a Ram Rajya.”
The CJI told counsel, “We know you have great confidence in us. We know footpaths are occupied. But our capacity to monitor is limited, that is the problem. Our intentions are as good as yours. We can’t go on clearing footpaths. If we issue a directive for clearing the footpaths across the country, will it be done? We have other things to do. Go to High Court and tell the problem.”
Petition seeks to help pedestrians
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, heading a three-judge bench dealing with a PIL filed by NGO Voice of India seeking a blanket order directing authorities all over the country to remove encroachments from footpaths, asked: “Can we order that all the footpaths in India should be cleared?”
When the petitioner submitted that this is a problem across the country and how many high courts should he should go to, the CJI said he would dismiss the PIL.
The petitioner asked the Bench which included Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, “Is this the way to deal with a PIL?”
He asked the CJI to issue some direction saying, “Every morning papers say you have ordered CBI probe into this and that. Why don’t you order removal?” The Bench, adjourned the case to February 2017. Chief Justice Thakur is retiring in January 2017.
The petitioner, Dhanesh Leshdhan, appearing for the NGO, drew the attention of the CJI to the notice issued on the petition earlier by a bench headed by then Chief Justice R.M. Lodha. The PIL wanted to free pavements and roads from encroachments to provide citizens their right to free passage and free flow of traffic on roads.
