Notify parking policy by Sept 30: SC to Delhi govt

A bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Deepak Gupta also directed the EPCA to prepare pilot projects to be implemented in East Delhi’s Krishna Nagar and North Delhi’s Kamla Nagar within two weeks. The EPCA, in association with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, is already running a pilot in Lajpat Nagar-III to ease the problem of parking.

The parking policy envisages similar area-specific plans within four months of its notification. Under the plan, areas are to be demarcated, and parking charges will vary between peak and off-peak hours and also be linked with pollution levels.

The apex court also came down heavily on the tendency of vehicle owners to “monopolise” public infrastructure, and directed the civic bodies to remove all kinds of encroachments from footpaths and explore the option of disconnecting water and power connections of repeat offenders. It further directed issuing 15 days notice to “persons who have encroached upon pavements”.

The court also touched upon the “abject failure” on part of the authorities to provide adequate public transport. “Individual vehicles are owned by about 2% of the population. However, this 2% of the population wants to monopolise all resources and infrastructure with regard to transportation,” stated the court.

However, the court conceded that in certain areas, parking of some vehicles will have to be permitted on the roads because of the number of vehicles.