HC gets tough on violations on sealed roads in Shimla

Shimla, March 24 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed police to file an affidavit stating the mechanism to check the plying of vehicles without permit on the restricted and sealed roads in the city and steps initiated to remove unauthorized parked vehicles.

A division bench on acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma passed these orders on a petition on the city's vehicular problems filed by Prem Raj and others, who held that due to haphazard parking they are not able to take their patients to hospitals.

Listing the case's next hearing on March 29, the court, in an order made available to the media on Saturday, also directed the Deputy Commissioner to file an affidavit stating the number of vehicles registered in the city and to state whether every vehicle owner has dedicated parking in compliance of its orders.

It asked officials to explain the reason for not initiating action against those vehicle owners who don't have parking facility in their residential or official premises.

The judges also asked the state that whether taxis have meters installed to charge fare.

Shimla has several auto-free zones to facilitate unrestricted movement of pedestrians.

The strolling culture of Shimla, which served as the summer capital of British India between 1864 and 1939, was developed by the colonial rulers, with the Mall and the historic Ridge, an open space just above the Mall and now a hub of commercial activity, were once 'British only' streets where vehicles were not allowed.