The court specifically told the Chief Secretary to ensure that no vehicle attached to the High Court judges was unnecessarily stopped or challenged in the town.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today banned with immediate effect plying of almost all vehicles on sealed and restricted roads in Shimla till further orders and declared the roads between Shimla Club and Lift and AG Chowk to CTO as 'no vehicle zone.'
A division bench of justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan said that the orders will have an immediate effect and all official or private vehicles, except those belonging to the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice and public utilities and emergency services vehicles, will not be allowed to ply on sealed and restricted roads and all the permits issued by ADM, Shimla, and Public Relations officers would stand suspended till further orders and the permits which have expired would not be renewed.
The court specifically told the Chief Secretary to ensure that no vehicle attached to the High Court judges was unnecessarily stopped or challenged in the town.
The bench took a serious note of penalising the officle of a high court judge on November 18 and stopping of a vehicle of another judge a few days back and took up the matter suo motu as PIL and directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that no vehicle attached to the judges is unnecessarily stopped or challenged.
The order said that no vehicle except the vehicle of the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice and public utility vehicles as provided under Shimla Road Users and Pedestrians (Public Safety and Convenience) Act, 2007, shall ply between Shimla Club to Lift and between Railway Board Building to C.T.O."
The court earlier in the day summoned Chief Secretary P Mitra, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and the Additional DGP and conveyed strong displeasure over the manner in which the police had chosen to target the vehicles belonging to the High Court.
The Court further said that the permits already issued would not be valid till further orders of the court.