'Duty Cast On State To Provide Adequate Car Parking Space In Courts' : Kerala HC Directs State, Cochin Corporation To Take Steps To Develop Car Parking Area

The Kerala High Court has directed the State Government and the Cochin Corporation to take time-bound steps to develop car-parking area for the Court by acting on a proposal made by the Railways to lease out a portion of its land near the Salim Rajan Road.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice A M Shaffique(since retired) observed in the judgment delivered on February 9 that the Railway, in principle, has agreed to give land to the Government of Kerala, on long term lease for 35 years.

"When railways, in principle, had already agreed to provide the required land, already surveyed, for the purpose of widening of the Salim Ali road, neither the Corporation of Kochi nor the Government, have come forward to agree for payment of the lease amount. Government of Kerala and Corporation of Kochi, respondents 3 and 4 respectively, are bound to provide sufficient funds, to ensure widening of the Salim Ali road, lay slabs on the drain, for shifting of the compound, and for all other incidental activities. A revised estimate be prepared by the District Collector, Ernakulam, within two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment", the High Court ordered while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate Suman Chakravarthy in 2015.

The Court directed that lease rent should be finalised between the parties, at the earliest, and there shall be no delay.

Railways, Corporation of Cochin and Government of Kerala, in co-ordination with each other, should conclude the process of widening of the Salim Ali road, initiated in the year 2002. There Court gave a further direction to the State of Kerala and Corporation of Kochi to provide adequate funds to pay the lease charges to the Railway, on surrendering their land having an extent of 466.2 SQM on the northern boundary of the existing Salim Ali Road and to implement the road widening scheme, proposed by the Registrar of the High Court of Kerala.

"The 3rd respondent, State of Kerala, represented by its Secretary, shall take appropriate steps to acquire enough and sufficient land from the property now in possession of the Railway, in the northern side of the High Court premises, comprised in Sy. Nos.2495 and 2496 of Ernakulam Village of Kanayannur Taluk, for the development and improvement of infrastructure of the High Court of Kerala, which includes its parking area. Such exercise, shall be completed within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the revised estimate", the Court further directed.

While passing the directions, the High Court relied on the observations made by the Supreme Court in the case All India Judges Association and Others v. Union of India and Others (2018) 17 SCC 555 that a duty is cast upon the State to provide adequate car-parking space in Courts for ease of access to justice.

"In the light of the above decision, a duty is cast upon the State of Kerala, represented by its Secretary, Department of Home; and Corporation of Kochi, respondent Nos.3 and 4 respectively, to provide adequate space, for parking the vehicles", the High Court observed.

The Division Bench observed that the material on record disclosed that right from the year 2002 onwards, High Court of Kerala, having felt the dire need of providing sufficient space for parking vehicles, inconvenience caused to the litigants, lawyers, their clerks, and other stakeholders, has been repeatedly addressing various authorities.

Court rejects objections raised on the ground of environmental protection

A lawyers' environmental protection body called the Lawyers Environment Awareness Forum(LEAF) intervened in the petition to object the proposal to develop car parking area on the ground that the same will affect the Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary situated near to the proposed site.

The intervenor pointed out that the Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued a draft notification in 2017 proposing to notify Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary as an Eco Sensitive Zone. It was argued that construction activities are prohibited in the vicinity of Eco Sensitive Zones.

However, the Court noted that the draft notification has not been finalized yet, and therefore the same has not statutory force.

Unless a statutory notification is issued under sub-rule 3(d) of Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, a draft notification cannot be acted upon, the Court said.

Even otherwise, there was nothing on record to show that the road-widening proposal will jeopardize the environemnt.

"Even taking it for granted that there is a draft notification, there is nothing on record to indicate that the widening of Salim Ali road would jeopardize the environment. As stated supra, widening of the road, even as per the draft notification is permissible, but the same in our view can be done, with the monitoring of Wildlife Warden, Forest Department, Chief Conservator of Forest (Custodian of Ecologically Fragile Land) and the State Government", the Court observed.

Case Details

Title : Suman Chakravarthy v Union of India, WP(c) No.24545/2015

Bench : Chief Justice S Manikumar & Justice AM Shaffique

Appearances : Dr KP Pradeep(for petitioner); For respondents - Mini Gopinath (CGC),M.A. Asif (Spl. Government Pleader),A. Dinesh Rao, P.K. Soyuz, P.J. Elvin Peter,M.P. Ashok Kumar & S. Subhash Chand

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