SAFE ROADS ARE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF CITIZENS

SAFE ROADS ARE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF CITIZENS

SHRISTI KHANDELWAL 

BACKGROUND:

Part III of the constitution guarantees certain basic rights to the citizens of India known as the Fundamental Rights, which are justifiable. The Fundamental Rights has been classified under the six categories-

• Right to Equality,
• Right to Freedom,
• Right against Exploitation,
• Right to Freedom of Religion,
• Cultural and Educational rights and
• Right to constitutional remedies.

In the issue, the right to have good roads and footpaths is considered as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution by the Karnataka High court in its recent ruling. Article 21 states that-

"No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law."

Iyer, J., has characterized Article 21 as "the procedural Magna Carta protective of life and liberty."

However, Article 21 puts a limit on the power of the State given under Article 246, read with the legislative lists. Thus, Article 21 does not recognize the Right to Life and Personal Liberty as an absolute right but limits the scope of the right itself. Article 21 secures two rights namely the right to life and the right to personal liberty. ‘Life' in Article 21 of the Constitution is not merely the physical act of breathing. It does not connote mere animal existence or continued drudgery through life. It has a much wider meaning which includes the right to live with human dignity, the right to livelihood, the right to health, right to pollution-free air, etc. In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India 1978 AIR 597 the Supreme Court gave a new dimension to Art. 21 and held that the right to live is not merely a physical right but includes within its ambit the right to live with human dignity.

Thus, the bare necessities, minimum and basic requirements that are essential and unavoidable for a person is the core concept of the right to life.

CURRENT ISSUE (SAFE ROADS ARE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF CITIZENS):

In a landmark judgment, the High Court of Karnataka declared that safe roads are fundamental right of citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In 2015, Vijayan Memon and three other residents of Koramangala in Bengaluru had filed a petition complaining about the failure of the civic authority Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, in proper road maintenance.

Recently, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz had passed the interim order. They held that it is a statutory and constitutional duty of the organization to maintain road without any fail. The court, while expanding the view of fundamental rights geld that, while citizens are to enjoy fundamental rights, right to good and safe streets can be treated as something which is needed to live a dignified life. If citizens face any problem or suffer due to the bad condition of the road, this will lead to infringement of fundamental rights and public law policy. The citizens can also seek compensation for the same. The court added citizens can go to the High Court and even ask for compensation from the civic authorities if they incur any loss or damages due to bad conditions of footpaths and roads.

The division bench held that it is the statutory obligation of the civic bodies to construct, repair and maintain footpaths and roads in a proper condition under Section 58 of Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act 1976. It was also mentioned that it creates a corresponding right to the citizens to enforce obligations on the part of city municipal corporations.

The court prima facie rejected the argument posed by the corporation that the bad state of Bengaluru roads are due to construction work going on for Bengaluru metro and digging up by other public entities. To abstain from this, the court mentioned the primary obligation of the civic entities to maintain the condition of the road, whatever the case be. The corporation is also directed to take special precautionary measures around the dug up roads for visually impaired people.

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CONCLUSION:

In this landmark judgment of the Karnataka High Court, the court lays much emphasis on the safety of people on roads and directed the Karnataka municipal corporation to restore the roads to a safe area, by which no nuisance shall be faced by the people. The court held that it is the fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution to have good and safe roads under the Right to life and personal liberty of Article 21. It also mentioned that it is the obligation on part of the civic entities to ensure the people the right to life with dignity by maintaining roads in a proper condition.

According to Bhagwati, J., Article 21 "embodies a constitutional value of supreme importance in a democratic society."


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