“Humans have disproportionately conquered the space on earth. There is very little space for the wildlife to exist,” the Madras High Court observed on Wednesday and upheld the night traffic ban (except for vehicles belonging to the tribals, forest dwellers, local villagers and agriculturalists) imposed on Dhimbam ghat road which was part of a national highway that passes through Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and connects Tamil Nadu with Karnataka.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy held that the Collector, heading the District Road Safety Committee, was fully empowered to impose restrictions such as night traffic ban, speed limit, maximum permissible weight and height of commercial vehicles and so on even with respect to national highways and that the role of National Highways Authority of India was limited to collection of toll.
Though 10 animals, including three leopards and three spotted deer, had reportedly died in the stretch in 2021 alone, the judges said, since the Supreme Court had extended the fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution to animals too, the night traffic ban was primarily essential to avoid disturbance to animals, a majority of which were nocturnal, and that road kill was only a secondary reason.
Authoring the verdict, Justice Chakravarthy also said that the commercial vehicle operators and those who use the stretch as a thoroughfare, basically because of the convenience it offers in plying between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and not because of non-availability of alternative routes, could not claim that their fundamental right to movement or their right to trade was being infringed due to the imposition of night traffic ban.
The judges pointed out that the ghat road in question was laid in 1920 for the purpose of patrolling the forest and for the use of the tribals. Though it eventually got declared as a national highway and used by heavy commercial vehicles, which often meet with accidents at the 27 steep hairpin bends, it did not have any sophisticated underpasses for the animals to cross the national highway and there were no fences too on the road margins.
Pointing out that the Madras High Court campus proudly exhibits a life-size stone statue of Manu Needhi Chozhan, an yesteryear ruler known for having upheld justice despite his son having caused the death of a calf in a roadkill, the first Division Bench said, it was bound to show compassion towards all living creatures and issued a series of directions with respect to night traffic on the stretch.
The court ordered that no vehicle with 12 wheels or above and no truck/trailer with a total weight of 16.20 tonnes and above should be permitted to enter the ghat road for any purpose whatsoever irrespective of the timings. Trucks and trailers which have up to 10 wheels and weigh less than 16.20 tonnes alone could be permitted to use the ghat road as thoroughfare between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The judges said that steps could be taken to incorporate the time restrictions on vehicle movement on Google maps as well as other GPS applications so that the road users could be made aware of the rules.
Even during the permitted hours, the vehicles must be driven at a maximum speed limit of 30 km per hour on the plains and 20 km per hour on the ghat road. The average time taken by the vehicles to move between two toll gates should be monitored so that penalty could be imposed for over-speeding. The vehicle users should not litter in the forest area, follow honking and headlight restrictions and not alight at unauthorised places.
Tamil Nadu State Express Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and private buses plying between the two States, too, could ply through the ghat road only between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. and the same time limit would apply to two-wheelers and three-wheelers, too. Local villagers, tribal people, forest dwellers and agriculturalists alone could be given photo passes and exempted from time restrictions.
However, even these people should not use commercial vehicles and that they should be permitted to use only light motor vehicles for their personal use. All ambulances and vehicles used for emergencies/medical purposes, including that of doctors/paramedical staff, should be permitted without any time restrictions and even they could be issued with passes, the court ordered.
“Heavy motor vehicles to bring vegetables or fruits from the villages inside the Tiger Reserve area would be permitted to use the road beyond the permissible hours only for the purpose of exit, but those vehicles would not be allowed to make an entry beyond the permissible hours given for the commercial vehicles or cargo vehicles. This would, however, not prohibit entry and exit of milk vans,” the Bench wrote.
All these vehicles, too, should follow the speed restriction of 30 km per hour. The judges also ordered installation of closed circuit television cameras at every 5 km in the entire stretch of 27 km between Bannari and Karapallam and store the footages for 45 days. The CCTV footage should be monitored jointly by the Forest Department, district administration as well as NHAI officials.
The court further directed the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI to permit the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in Tamil Nadu to collect fees from the commercial vehicles using the ghat road and use the money for maintaining the CCTV cameras, sign boards, weigh bridges and toll plazas.
