Bengaluru: The central government has made it clear that the national highways passing through urban areas cannot be denotified. The tough stance by the centre has dampened the spirit of liquor outlet owners and consumers, where liquor ban has come into effect.
The Centre’s decision is a major setback to the state government too. Attorney representing Centre, Jayakar Shetty, submitted the reply from the Central Ministry of Highways and Surface Transport to the High Court on August 14.
The state had petitioned the Centre to denotify a 77.64 km long national highway stretch that runs across Bangalore City by bringing it under local city governing authority. Justice Vineet Thakur’s single judge bench which dealt with the case took cognisance of Supreme Court order in the matter which had concluded that it was not a viable alternative, and handed the reply to State Attorney Jayarakar Shetty.
What does the letter contain?
The main purpose of public safety will be defeated, if it failed to implement the order by giving exemptions, says the reply. It further reads, therefore, it is necessary to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions as per the provisions of Article 142 of the Constitution.
“We have reviewed various proposals, including technical reasons in the letter sent by the state government to denotify the 609.65 km long national highway stretch running in the state”, the centre’s letter explained justifying the decision against denotification of highways.
The national highways passing through urban areas cannot be exempted. There is no peripheral road to Bangalore city. The Supreme Court has already ruled that such roads cannot be denotified and hence your proposal cannot be considered for implementation, the letter stated further.
Liquor outlet employees’ future in limbo
It’s a question of the lives of thousands of employees working in the liquor shops. With that in mind, the state government had denotified the bypass roads, State Highways in its jurisdiction. But the Centre has made the issue worse, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in this regard.
The state government did not answer the court on August 17 and will try to convince the court on August 18, said, Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna.
