Plea before Kerala High Court seeks regulation of Bharat Jodo Yatra to prevent obstruction of public roads

A public Interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking regulation of the Kerala leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi. [Adv. Vijayan K v State of Kerala & Ors.].The Bharat Jodo Yatra, in which Gandhi and other prominent political leaders of the Congress party are expected to walk across the country from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, was flagged off from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari on September 7.The march entered Kerala on September 10 and has been proceeding Northwards since then..The plea moved by a lawyer practicing before the High Court, who is also a retired District Superintendent of Police, seeks regulation of the march, citing traffic jams its could cause on major roads.It has been contended that Gandhi and those accompanying him are occupying the entire breadth of the public roads through which they are traveling. Thereby, the movement of the public and vehicles are totally blocked for hours together preventing free flow of traffic and movement of pedestrians.The petitioner claimed that he had sent a request the State Police Headquarters to take immediate steps to alleviate the hardship suffered by the general public arising out of the yatra.“Section 4 of the Kerala Public Ways (Restriction of Assemblies and Procession) Act 2011, deals with the prohibition of obstruction on public ways and as per sub section (1) of Section 4, Section 5 of the Kerala Public Ways (Restriction of Assemblies and Procession) Act 2011, authorizes the District Police Chief to impose reasonable restrictions on the right of obstructed movement of the public along public ways," the plea said.It was further argued that the State police is also bound to collect the fees from the licensees for deploying enough personnel to cover the Yatra.Therefore, the plea sought orders from the Court to permit the participants of the Yatra to occupy only half the road and leave the other half for the free movement of the vehicles and the public.