IMPORTANT POINT
Removal of bunks and kiosks located within the hospital premises or within the premises of other medical institutions or their removal from the road margins of important and busy thoroughfares in the three cities in Tamil Nadu is not unreasonable and arbitrary as the removal is only for the purpose of removal of health hazard or in the interests of smooth and unobstructed flow of traffic.

JUDGMENT

B.P. Jeevan Reddy, J.-Leave granted in the Special Leave Petition.

2. A common question arises in these writ petitions and civil appeals.

3. The National Association of Education Self-Employed Youth (NAESEY) is the petitioner in Writ Petition (C) No. 1000 of 1987. The appellants in Civil Appeal No. 1710 of 1987 and Civil Appeal No........ of 1997 (arising from Special Leave Petition (C) No. 20689 of 1993) and the writ petitioner in Writ Petition (C) No. 365 of 1987 are members of this Association. It is stated that this Association was formed under the inspiration and guidance of Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshaiah, the then Vice-Chancellor of the Madras University, and with the help of Madras University Employment Guidance Bureau. The members of this Association have installed bunks/kiosks within the premises of hospitals and medical colleges and on the road margins in the cities of Madras, Vellore and Tiruppur in the State of Tamil Nadu. Complaining that they are sought to be evicted from their premises otherwise than in accordance with law, one of the members of the Association, N. Jagadeesan, approached the Madras High Court by way of a writ petition. It was dismissed. The writ appeal preferred by him was also dismissed against which Civil Appeal No. 1710 of 1987 is preferred. A writ petition filed by the Association (Writ Petition (C) No. 12916 of 1987) was also dismissed similarly against which Special Leave Petition (C) No. 20689 of 1993 is preferred. The Association has filed two writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution, viz., Writ Petition (C) Nos. 1000 of 1987 and 365 of 1987. One of its members, Tmt. Tamilselvi and others have filed Writ Petition (C) No. 677 of 1995 directly in this Court. Counters have been filed on behalf of the respondents, according to which the position boils down to this :

(1) Insofar as the kiosks located within the premises of hospitals and medical institutions in the State are concerned, it is stated that Health and Family Welfare Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu has directed the removal of the said bunks/kiosks on the ground that they are posing a hazard to the health and well being of the patients and others visiting the hospitals and the institutions. It is stated that these bunks and kiosks are creating unhygienic conditions by littering the place and that the food items provided by them are also being consumed by the in-patients and other patients visiting the hospitals which is proving to be deleterious to their health and treatment. It is also stated that several persons are gathering around these bunks/kiosks which is interfering with the smooth and peaceful working of the hospitals and other medical institutions.

(2) So far as the bunks/kiosks located on the street-margins are concerned, it is stated that only the bunks/kiosks in three main thoroughfares in Madras (specified in the counter-affidavit) and one thoroughfare each in Vellore and Tiruppur are only being removed because they are proving a traffic hazard. It is stated that these thoroughfares are carrying very high volume of multimodal traffic ranging from bullock carts to fast moving vehicles and that having regard to the increasing volume of traffic, it has become necessary to remove these bunks/kiosks and re-locate them elsewhere. This removal is also necessary, it is stated, for widening the roads. In fact, the widening of roads had reduced the width of the footpath and the existence of bunks/kioks on such reduced footpath margins is causing further obstruction in the free movement of the people. It is clearly stated in the counter-affidavits filed on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu that the bunks/kiosks from all the thoroughfares/roads are not being removed but only bunks/kiosks from certain extremely busy roads/thoroughfares, as specified in the said affidavits, are being removed. It is also stated that so far as other roads are concerned, only one or two bun