CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to prepare a proposal for regulating traffic between Bannari and Karapallam on the Coimbatore-Bengaluru National Highway, which runs through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR). The direction was issued in the wake of road users getting affected by the night travel ban.
The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, while hearing petitions on the night travel ban, asked the petitioners to give suggestions on regulating traffic on the stretch within three days.
While preparing a proposal on traffic regulations, the government should take into account villagers’ problems, and not deviate from the guidelines for roads in protected areas based on recommendations by the sub-committee and the recent notification of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the court said. The government was given seven days to prepare its proposal, and a three-day extension will be provided, if required.
Additional Advocate General J Ravindran said fleet movement has dropped by half to 3,000 vehicles per day since the night travel ban was enforced. He pitched for a review of the court order that directed for implementing the January, 2019 notification issued by the Erode district collector banning night traffic. The ban came into effect from February 10.
Plea to penalise councillors junked, petitioner to pay Rs 10K
Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking disqualification of urban local body councillors from the DMK and BJP for allegedly flouting the poll code, and imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner. When the petitioner — ML Ravi, president of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi — quoted the Representation of People (RP) Act, the first bench of
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy noted that it is not applicable to local body elections