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Cantonment roads closure by Local Military Authorities in Secunderabad
Highlights
In the minds of the citizens of Secunderabad the real question is - why is LMA being permitted to unilaterally usurp powers to close roads which the law does not give it? Your Ministry\'s instructions of 7th Jan 2015 should have put this matter to rest. However they do not seem to have had any effect in Secunderabad.
In the minds of the citizens of Secunderabad the real question is - why is LMA being permitted to unilaterally usurp powers to close roads which the law does not give it? Your Ministry's instructions of 7th Jan 2015 should have put this matter to rest. However they do not seem to have had any effect in Secunderabad.
You would also, doubtless, be aware that subsequent to my writing to you and to CM Telangana on 13 Nov 2015, Allahabad HC delivered two important judgments on 18 Nov 2015 – both of which have a direct bearing on the issue of LMA enforcing road closure in Secunderabad.
In WP38089/2014 (https://goo.gl/2Pz6S2) a 2-judge Bench of Allahabad HC ordered reopening of a road on A1 land in Mathura Cantonment, which had been closed by LMA without Section 258 of the Cantonments Act 2006 being followed.
The Court based its orders on two main point:
- that subordinate legislation such as CLAR 1937 cannot override the parent Act – (in this case the Cantonments Act 2006 under which only a cantonment board can close a street in a cantonment after following Section 258), and your Ministry's letter of 7th Jan 2015 which clarifies the same point.
After the Allahabad High Court reserved its orders in 2014, this closed road in Mathura was reopened by LMA there. What is more, a meeting of Mathura Cantonment Board held on 23 May 2015 minuted the correct procedure applicable in such cases. As the minutes of this meeting record, a request to close the road was received by the Cantonment Board from LMA. The Cantonment Board, in line with the Ministry's orders of 7th Jan 2015, proceeded as per Section 258 of the Cantonments Act. It invited public objections by placing 4 newspaper ads, went through the 115 responses received from the public, consulted with civil and military authorities, and only after this (mandatory) exercise it decided that there was no need to close the road permanently and that temporary zigzag security barriers would suffice (please see Agenda Item No 20 athttps://goo.gl/9FWA1o).
In its judgment delivered the same day by the same 2-judge Bench the second “connected” case – WP 18086/2014 - (https://goo.gl/GBMUvv) the High Court ordered that LMA has no authority to impose a pass system on morning walkers on cantonment roads in Allahabad (on A1 lands). It declared that army has no policing powers, and that such powers are only there with local state administrations. It pointed out that ACR1944 is non statutory in nature, and again referred to your Ministry's orders of 7th Jan 2015 to clarify the status of the roads, observing that the procedure of Sec 258 was not followed before attempting to impose the pass system. The judgment also pointed out that the very Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Cantonments Act 2006 lists accountability, transparency and greater democratisation among its primary aims, presumably highlighting that these aims must be the cornerstone of any executive actions under the Act.
Sir, you are well aware that your Ministry's instructions of 7th Jan 2015 were merely a reiteration of the correct legal position – that no road in a cantonment may be closed by any authority other than a cantonment board. The Allahabad HC judgments declare the same, and refer to the MOD's 7th Jan 2015 instructions while doing so. The procedure specified in Section 258 is a perfectly reasonable and logical one, because it imposes a system of checks and balances while making decisions such as closing a road and does not leave such decisions in the hand of the interested party alone.
While we appreciate the fact that you are aware of the problem being faced by the citizens in Secunderabad and are trying to find a solution keeping in view the security requirements of the army, my only humble suggestion would be to follow the mandate of law and let the LMA place its threat perceptions before the Secunderabad Cantonment Board.
Surely such checks and balances are a primary requirement for ensuring transparency, accountability and greater democratisation – all stated aims of the Cantonments Act 2006? What then is the problem in following the same procedure in Secunderabad ?
Most of the over 1 million affected civilians in this a city of about 7 million consider security issue to be a bogey in this case. No incident has ever happened this area in over a century, and there are no sensitive military installations that warrant closing 14-15 roads that had always been open to public in a 10 km span (north-south) of a bustling metropolis. In any case there are hundreds of methods of improving security other than closing roads – and such methods are followed while protecting sensitive buildings (including Parliament, State Legislatures, Sena Bhavan itself), and public places.
This makes it even more necessary that a decision which rips apart a city's connectivity by closing 15 roads, is taken after due deliberation in the empowered and authorised forum (Cantonment Board) and not unilaterally. Only in such a forum can real issues be debated, proper solutions to the “real” problems identified, and the tremendous costs sought to be imposed on individuals, the city and even the nation as a whole in terms of soured civil-military relations avoided.
Sir, While the citizens do understand that roads can be closed on the grounds of security, they will do what they can to ensure that the procedure established by law, and by way of legislative intent and statutory law, be followed scrupulously. The reasons for enactment of the Cantonments Act are sublime and the principles upon which it stands as spelt out in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons” cannot be deviated from. An adherence to the letter and spirit of the law exemplified by your Ministry's orders of 7 Jan 2015 is a compulsion in Secunderabad, and in other similar cases, as unequivocally declared by the Allahabad HC.
Venkataramana Nagubandi
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