The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and Delhi Police to reconsider blanket restrictions on metro and railway services ahead of Saturday’s proposed protests in Delhi, observing that security measures cannot amount to a complete prohibition on public transport and inconvenience millions of commuters.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said authorities could regulate train movements to prevent unlawful gatherings but could not bring the entire transport system to a halt.
“Stopping something and regulating are two different concepts. One can regulate but it is completely different to put a halt on everything…you cannot stop everything,” the bench observed.
“You will not use a hammer to kill a fly,” the court remarked, stressing that security measures must be proportionate to the situation.
The court passed the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and Delhi Police, agreed to reconsider the restrictions following the bench’s concerns over their proportionality.
“Since the organisers are not before us, the limited issue before the court is whether the complete stoppage of metro and rails requires reconsideration,” the court said in its order.
Recording the solicitor general’s assurance, the bench said the authorities would reconsider the prohibition and permit metro and other trains to operate in a regulated manner to prevent inconvenience to Delhi residents, while keeping the principle of proportionality in mind.
“In terms of the assurance, we direct that a considered decision shall be taken to allow movements of metro and other trains so that no inconvenience is caused to the people and wide publicity is also given,” the order said.
The court also directed the authorities to issue revised travel advisories and publicise them widely to ensure commuters do not face hardship while travelling across the capital.
The directions came ahead of the proposed protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other organisations on Saturday. The Delhi Police had asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to consider closing entry and exit gates at 57 metro stations from Friday night, while the Railways had announced cancellations of several train services to and from New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations.
The court's intervention seeks to ensure that security arrangements for the demonstrations do not unnecessarily disrupt public transport and the daily lives of Delhi residents.
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