Vehicles can be parked on service lanes for 15 minutes: HC

There is good news for small commercial establishments on Ferozepur road as the Punjab and Harayana high court has ordered that vehicles can be parked by the visitors in front of the shops for up to 15 minutes. Parking of vehicles on service lanes had been completely banned by the high court recently, leading to widespread outrage among the shopkeepers.

There is good news for small commercial establishments on Ferozepur road as the Punjab and Harayana high court has ordered that vehicles can be parked by the visitors in front of the shops for up to 15 minutes. Parking of vehicles on service lanes had been completely banned by the high court recently, leading to widespread outrage among the shopkeepers.

High court in its order dated May 20, a copy of which is available with HT, states “vehicles other than the self-driven ones shall be allowed to drop customers to the place of their destination but they shall not be allowed to park vehicles except wherever permitted under our orders”.

It further states that the occupants of of self-driven vehicles who wish to visit shops shall also be permitted to park their vehicles but not beyond 15 minutes for which separate token be issued to them.

The high court on April 30 had issued direction for sealing of those premises which were found to be misusing the earmarked parking places and also those who have encroached upon the public parking illegally. A direction was issued to police authorities to issue tokens for every commercial establishment equivalent to the dedicated parking spaces made available by those establishments.

A further direction not to permit vehicle beyond the parking space made available by the commercial establishment was also issued.

The district administration and the municipal corporation were required to comply with those directions and submit their status report. The deputy commissioner, municipal commissioner and commissioner of police, Ludhiana, had submitted their respective status reports which were taken on record by the court.

President of Ferozepur Road Shopkeepers Welfare Association, Deepak Badyal, said the police were not allowing the customers to park their vehicles even for five minutes in front of the shops despite court orders. “A person can't park the vehicle even to withdraw money from an ATM, which doesn't take more than minutes,” said Badyal.

Issues under HC consideration

On May 20, the court stated that some issues have emerged for further consideration.

The first issue that came to the fore was whether there are some earmarked public parking spaces abutting the Ferozepur road, and if so, how those spaces can be utilised for regulated parking by general public without causing any traffic congestion?

Second point that was raised by the court was whether the alleged public parking spaces available include service lanes also?

Thirdly, the court asked the long term mechanism to utilise the public parking spaces for short term parking by the general public, namely, other than the visitors and customers of shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, resorts, marriage palaces, who often visit these establishments for a longer duration?