 "No unmanned barricades will be left on roads, Delhi Police tells HC")
The Delhi High Court was informed on Monday by the Delhi Police that no unmanned barricades will be left on roads and people can report any unattended barricade at helpline number, 112 or tag police on Twitter and action will be immediately taken.
The high court termed it a welcome step and said with this social media step, a check can be kept on unmanned barricades.
A bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal was also informed by the Delhi police counsel that as per new guidelines issued by the police, no barricades will be put on roads during peak hours unless there is specific input or information regarding law and order or crime detection under the order of a senior officer of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) rank.
The bench said it was not passing any additional order in this regard and was only asking the police to comply with its standing order.
The high court was hearing a matter in which the court had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written to the Prime Minister which was in turn sent to the Delhi High Court for taking action against the placement of unmanned barricades on several roads in south Delhi area.
The Delhi Police, through standing counsel (civil) Santosh Kumar Tripathi and lawyer Arun Panwar, submitted that the area traffic inspector will brief his staff that all unmanned or unattended obstructive barricades in their respective duty need to be immediately removed from road/ footpath.
Senior police officers would also pay special attention towards placing of barricades during their field visits. It will be publicized through social media that if anyone finds any unattended barricade on road, they may immediately report the same on 112 or may tag Traffic Police on Twitter @dtptraffic and Delhi Police @DelhiPolice, and the same shall be attended to by the SHO of the police station for immediate action, the police said.
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Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order Division) was also present during the hearing.
In its compliance report, the police said departmental action has been initiated against six erring officials in the recent past for leaving the barricades unattended on the road and supervisory officers have been advised not to take a lenient view of such lapses.
The police, in its standing order, has also instructed its officials that while giving approval to barricaded checking, district DCP would consider that checking be allowed during peak hours only in case of exigency.
"Further, barricaded checking to be avoided at points prone to traffic congestions like intersections, junctions, turns and near bus stops, loops and other such places where chances of traffic build-up are higher, it said.
The high court noted that the police were also proposing measures for putting barricades at non-gated residential colonies if such requests are made by any residents' welfare associations (RWA).
Tripathi submitted that no study or pilot project has been done on this yet and sought some time in this regard.
The high court listed the matter for further hearing on November 14.
It had earlier pulled up the police for putting unmanned barricades on roads causing blockage and traffic jams.
It had observed that in the evening peak traffic hours, policemen put barricades on roads and keep standing to a side without looking at the traffic.
The court had noted that the Delhi Police, in its status report, stated that a standing order on 'Procurement, maintenance and operational usage of mobile barricades' has been revised in 2021 and it has been instructed that under no circumstances, the barricades should be left unmanned and should be removed from the carriageway and footpaths when not in use so that they do not cause any traffic hindrance or became a cause of potential hazard for motorists and pedestrians.
The high court had said unmanned barricades on roads serve no purpose and cause harassment to the public and had asked the police to submit the protocol followed by it for placing barricades in the city.
The issue raised by Om Prakash Goel (who wrote the letter) requires consideration since these unmanned barricades on roads prima facie serve no purpose and indeed cause inconvenience and harassment to the public at large. Such barricades also have been used to set up kiosks and for parking vehicles, the high court had said.
It had issued notices to the Commissioner of Delhi Police, the Delhi government, the Centre, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, and South Delhi Municipal Corporation through its Commissioner.
A PIL was registered by the high court in February 2022, while taking cognisance of the December 10, 2021 letter by Goel, who claims to be the President of Delhi Pradeshik Aggarwal Sammelan, to the Prime Minister which has in turn been sent to the court.
He had raised grievances relating to the setting up of unmanned barricades in Kalkaji and CR Park police station areas in south Delhi and circulated several media reports on the issue.
His grievance was that these barricades serve no purpose and lead to blockades of free flow of traffic, causing misery and harassment to vehicle owners and the general public and leading to long traffic jams and hold-ups.
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