Can’t establish Ram Rajya in country: Supreme Court

Observing that a court cannot find solutions 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.

“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 murder should come to an end. All abductions should stop. We cannot bring about a Ram Rajya,” Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, heading a three-judge bench, told a PIL petitioner, Dhanesh Leshdhan. On behalf of the NGO — Voice of India — Mr Leshdan is seeking a blanket order directing authorities all over the country to remove encroachments from footpaths.

The CJI told the counsel, “We know you have great confidence in us. We know footpaths are occupied. But our capacity to monitor is limited and that is the problem. Our intentions are as good as yours. However, 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 the high court and tell the problem.”

When the petitioner submitted that this is a problem across the country and queried as to “how many high courts should he go to”, the CJI said that 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 also asked the CJI to issue some directions saying, “Every morning paper says you have ordered a CBI probe on this and that. Why don’t you order removal ”

The bench adjourned the case to February 2017. Significantly, Chief Justice Thakur is retiring in January 2017.

Mr Leshdhan, appearing for the NGO, drew the attention of the CJI to the notice issued on the petition earlier by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice R.M. Lodha. The PIL wanted to free pavements and roads from encroachment to provide citizens their right to free passage and free flow of traffic on roads. The petitioner alleged that there was hardly any space left on pavements for pedestrians who had to find their way through encroachments by street vendors, hawkers and parked vehicles.

In September 2014, the court had asked the states to file status reports on the steps taken to remove encroachments on roads, lanes, bylanes and footpaths on the PIL plea for policy formulation to prevent the misuse of public places for parking vehicles and setting up shops. He said his organisation had already complained to most of the state governments seeking action against the culprits, but there was not even a single response from many of them.