Patna,(BiharTimes): A division bench of Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and Justice Anjana Mishra of Patna High Court on Wednesday issued a directive to shift the designated place of protest, dharna (sit-in) and demonstration from R-Block to Sanjay Gandhi Stadium, Gardanibagh, for two months as temporary arrangement. After this Kargil Chowk or a dumping yard at Gardanibagh would be made the permanent site.
The district administration on Wednesday, however, decided to use Kargil Chowk with immediate effect from Thursday for daylong demonstrations and Sanjay Gandhi Stadium for more than a day.
The court was responding to the PIL of Shambhu Sharan Singh, a Patna High Court lawyer, who on Monday said that due to the closure of R-Block roundabout a large parts of the city suffers from traffic jam. He said it is impossible to even walk when the R-Block gates are closed by the administration due to dharna.
R-Block falls on the way to reach railway station and often those going to catch trains had to face a lot of hardship.
Earlier on Monday the bench had directed the state government to suggest alternative sites by Wednesday for staging dharna or demonstration.
Patna district magistrate Abhay Kumar Singh, who was present in the court on Wednesday, proposed Gait Public Library ground in Gardanibagh. But the court rejected it on the plea that there should be no disturbance near the library and that this will bring another public interest litigation.
However, the court agreed on the protest site to be shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Stadium, which the urban development department has suggested. It ruled that the district administration could build an iron gate near the stadium to regulate the traffic and facilitate the protests.
When the district magistrate submitted to the court that most of the processions start from the Gandhi Maidan and then pass through the main thoroughfares, the court asked why not make a permanent arrangement near the sprawling ground.
The matter would come up for hearing after two months.