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HC no to cracker shop shift plan
THE FIRECRACKERS shop will continue to glitter at Meston Road at least for this festive season. The high court has come in the way of administrative plans to shift these shops to Phoolbagh grounds.
THE FIRECRACKERS shop will continue to glitter at Meston Road at least for this festive season. The high court has come in the way of administrative plans to shift these shops to Phoolbagh grounds.
The court not only has rejected the appeal, it has asked the district administration to have a sympathetic look on the entire issue. More so, the court asks for a fresh rejoinder from the city administration, as the methodology applied to prevent this business was not in lines with the law.
Left red-faced after the order from the court of Justice Arun Tandon, the administration is now compelled to resume the process to renew the licences.
The licences haven’t been renewed in last two years so as to pile pressure on traders to shift their business to Phoolbagh.
The administrative officials felt the continuance of this business in congested place, as Meston Road is clear and present danger to live of the habitants. The traders who do brisk business every festive season had rented houses where they store explosive material.
“Considering the safety of people, this proposal for a centralised market at a open place notably in Dusshera and Deepawali,” said an official. “Every time the implementation was marred by political intervention,” he added. A couple of years ago, when then SSP Ramendra Vikram Singh did a la Supreme Court and got the shops sealed.
To his dismay, his bosses in Lucknow repealed his order and he had to bite the dust. Last year, traders’ leader Banwarilal Kanchchal scuttled the shifting plan and traders who got a much-needed relief, also obtained the stay order. This time, the officials decided not to renew the licences, as the time limit for the stay was to expire in August this year.
In such a scenario, the traders were getting automatically barred from doing business at Meston Road. The HC, however, quashed appeal of district administration seeking vacation of the stay order, obtained by a trader Mohd Nasim.
