SC Stays Opening Of Road Outside Punjab CM's Residence in Chandigarh

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta noted that both the Centre and Punjab government have opposed the opening of the road, which has been closed since the 1980s, owing to a threat perception.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the opening of a road outside Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence, in Chandigarh, on an experimental basis.

A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice on a plea filed by Punjab government assailing the Punjab and Haryana High Court direction, which was issued while dealing with suo-matter matters pertaining to traffic woes and infrastructure problems in Chandigarh.

The bench, also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, observed that both the Centre and Punjab government have opposed the opening of the road, which has been closed since the 1980s, owing to a threat perception.

Punjab’s advocate general pressed for a stay on the high court’s direction and cited the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi when the SPG was withdrawn. “Your lordships are aware about the unfortunate incident when the SPG for Rajiv Gandhi was withdrawn. They immediately took action. They are waiting for this…”, said the Punjab’s counsel. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Chandigarh administration, said the terrorists have to succeed once but the security agencies would have to succeed every time.

While staying the high court’s direction, the bench said that nobody wants anything untoward to happen and sought the response of the administration of Union Territory of Chandigarh by September 2.

"Issue notice. Direction on opening road on trial basis is stayed till further orders but the writ petition proceedings before the high court can continue," said the apex court, in its order.

Punjab’s counsel said that unfortunately in recent years there is resurgence of terrorism and grenades were thrown at our intelligence building. Mehta also objected to certain observations made by the high court regarding intelligence reports. "How can the high court say intelligence reports are figments of imagination," said Mehta. The bench said these observations were not unnecessary but stressed that the public cannot be inconvenienced.

The high court had directed the opening of a 500-metre stretch outside the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's residence, connecting Sukhna Lake to Nayagaon, on a trial basis. The area was closed to the public since the 1980s, leading to long detours.