Nainital, Apr 3 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court has directed Champawat’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to instal CCTV cameras at barriers located between Thuligad and Bhairav Mandir to monitor vehicular traffic on the Purnagiri route.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra has further ordered that the footage from these cameras should be preserved to ensure compliance with its earlier order dated March 12.
The SSP has been directed to file a compliance report on the installation of cameras by April 9, when the matter will be heard next.
The high court’s order came on a fresh petition filed by the Purnagiri Taxi Association, which alleged non-compliance with the court’s earlier order. The petition claims that the Boom Mandir Taxi Sanchalan Samiti, the successful bidder under a zila panchayat-issued tender, was restricting the number of taxis allowed to operate on the Thuligad–Bhairav Mandir route to just 75 vehicles a day.
It was further alleged that the Samiti was charging Rs 1,000 from taxis not registered with it for access to the route.
The petitioner also accused the district administration, local police and the zila panchayat of colluding with the Samiti in violation of the Court’s earlier directions in this regard.
Earlier, the Association had approached the high court challenging the zila panchayat’s authority to issue a tender for operating taxis on the route.
During those proceedings, the counsel for the zila panchayat had submitted that the tender was only for providing shuttle service and that there was no intention to prevent other vehicles, including those of non-tendering or unsuccessful bidders, from using the road.
Based on this assurance, the previous writ petition was disposed of. PTI COR ALM ALM KSS KSS
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