Five Month Old Infant Moves High Court Seeking Ban On Vehicular Movement Inside Cubbon Park

A division bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy issued the notice directing the respondents to file their statement of objections. The court though refused to grant any interim relief as prayed by the petitioners counsel. The court said granting of interim relief would amount to final order.

The petition filed through advocates Anjan Dev Narayana and Advocate Annapoorna Seetharam, states that as per the National Disaster Management Authority guidelines, the Department of Horticulture shut down the Park from access by the general population from 25.03.2020 till 20.05.2020. The impact of the lockdown on the quality of the Park itself was highly positive, in that there was a reduction of suspended particulate matter and carbon monoxide levels.

The state government by an order dated 08.09.2020 directed the Department of Horticulture to open the parks within its jurisdiction. Following which, the Cubbon Park Traffic Police issued a letter requesting the Deputy Director of the Department of Horticulture to open the Park to traffic.

Then on 09.09.2020 the Joint Director of the Department of Revenue, Mr. K. Umapathi, amends the order dated 08.09.2020 amending the guidelines issued on 08.09.2020 to include pedestrian and vehicular movement within public parks.

The plea states that the actions of the respondents have a direct impact on the health, wellbeing and quality of life of the Petitioner, who as an infant is made to bear the burden of the environmentally irresponsible Respondents. Further, it is said that actions of respondents impinge on the rights of the petitioner to enjoy pollution free air and water and endangers and impairs his quality of life and is a clear derogation of his constitutional rights.

The plea says that "The idea of ensuring that there are no motorized vehicles within the Park is neither novel, nor radical. It is submitted that over a decade ago, traffic was freely allowed within the Park till the Government of Karnataka ceased allowing buses, auto rickshaws and transport vehicles through the Park. It is further submitted that the Department of Horticulture, which also manages Lalbagh, has successfully managed to ensure that there are no thoroughfares in Lalbagh from as early as 1975- this decision has gone unhindered and unchanged till date."

The plea relies on a study carried out by a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, to understand the traffic impact should the Park's thoroughfares be closed to vehicular traffic. The said researchers concluded that there was no substantial reduction in traffic or improvement of volume to capacity ratio if the Park is opened for traffic. They also noticed that there would be a net reduction in CO2 and PM2.5 emissions as compared to when the traffic is allowed inside the Park. The report has recommended closure of the Park to vehicular traffic after examining the significant improvement to the environment when vehicular traffic was stopped, and an absence of any impact on the traffic when the Park is open to vehicular traffic.

The petition states that the final decision to reopen the Park remains with the Department of Horticulture as per its policies, and neither the Cubbon Park Traffic Police Station nor the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority have any right or authority in respect thereof. Such an act is clearly ultra vires and illegal.

Further it is said that the general public and the civil society have petitioned the Government of Karnataka via online petitions and have spoken to several notable citizens who are up in arms about the decision of the State to permit vehicular traffic in the Park. It is also claimed that after that the Department of Horticulture allowed restricted access to the Park and only allowed walkers, joggers and cyclists into the Park at specified times.

Earlier, the Cubbon Park Walkers Association had filed a public interest litigation seeking directions that the state government consider the recommendations made by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport which had suggested for stopping vehicular traffic inside the park. The court had disposed of the said matter on 22.10.2020 with directions to the state to consider the said recommendations and take a decision on the same within a period of 6 weeks from the date of the judgment.