PATNA: The Patna High Court on Thursday directed the transport commissioner, the DM, the SSP and the traffic SP to appear before it and submit the action taken report regarding the steps initiated to check air and noise pollution in Patna.
A division bench comprising Justice Narayan Roy and Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi issued the directive while hearing a PIL of Senior Citizens' Welfare Committee and intervener petition of Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare.
The Patna DM, the SSP and the traffic SP were present in accordance with an order issued earlier by the high court.
The court took a dim view of the traffic authorities concerned for not taking due care to check noise and air pollution created by vehicles, particularly auto-rickshaws, which apart from rolling down in a disorderly manner, often cause traffic snarls.
The judges told the SSP, Kundan Krishnan, that the officers-in-charge of the different police stations of the state capital appeared least concerned about the ill-effects of noise pollution. They asked the SSP to use his experience in checking the menace of noise pollution and remarked that all rejected traffic police officers seemed to be manning the various traffic points in the city.
Justice Tripathi remarked that the condition of the Kolkata traffic had improved significantly and that this could be achieved in Patna as well. The court also directed the DM to check blaring of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am.
Taking exception to the chock-a-block traffic situation during the peak hours in the city, Justice Narayan Roy, said that it takes one and a half hour to cover a distance of seven km from Rajendranagar to the high court in his car.
During the rush hours, no senior and responsible traffic police officer is seen anywhere in the city, the judges said and added that that's the time when their services are most required for the smooth flow of the traffic.
DGP exonerated: A division bench of the Patna High Court on Thursday allowed the Letters Patent Appeal of the state
government challenging the order of a single bench which had directed the DGP, Ashish Ranjan Sinha, to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 in connection with a case.
In 2005, a single bench presided by Justice Radha Mohan Prasad had imposed Rs 10,000 fine on the DGP on a writ petition challenging the promotion of a junior staff superseding his senior.
