A restriction on the right to ply vehicles on public roads under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution must be reasonable and necessary to achieve the objective of regulating traffic and avoiding accidents.

S. RAMACHANDRA IYER, C. J. :- These appeals are filed by the State of Madras, under Cl. 15 Letters Patent, from the judgment of Srinivasan, J., directing the issue of a writ of mandamus to the Government to permit the plying of handcarts in that part of the Mount Road lying between the Round Tana and Gemini Roundabout, subject to such regulations as the Commissioner of Police might impose as to the weight and capacity of the handcarts and relative to their movement within certain hours of the day. The judgment was restricted in its operation to the passage over the road to the handcarts belonging to the respondents, to these appeals, and which were employed by them in connection with the business : but even in regard to them, it was declared that it will be open to the Commissioner, by providing passes or otherwise, to restrict the passage of these handcarts.

2. On 20-3-1962, the Commissioner of Police, Madras, issued a notification by virtue of the powers conferred on him under Motor Vehicles Act and the Madras Traffic Rules, regulating traffic generally, and imposing certain restrictions on vehicular traffic over the section of the Mount Road referred to earlier. The notification, inter alia, stated :

"As per orders of the Government of Madras in 53162/Tr. I/60 dated 28-1-1960, handcarts bullock carts, jutkas, hand and cycle rickshaws and bullock trucks are not permitted to ply on Mount Road from Round Tana to Gemini Roundabout between 7-30 hrs to 20-00 hrs. But they will take alternative routes as suggested hereunder, or other routes whichever is easier without touching Mount Road. This ban on the slow moving traffic was part of a comprehensive scheme contained in the notification, whereby passage of vehicle was regulated by providing six fanes over the road : separate bus stops were provided for the city and moffusil stage-carriages : certain streets opening into that part of the Mount Road were declared one-way streets : speed limits were prescribed : automatically operating signals were installed. Though conceived as an experimental measure, the notification was the outcome of much study of the problem and it was intended to facilitate smooth passage of fast moving vehicles in the context of the ever increasing volume of such traffic.

3. We shall now refer to the circumstances that led to the notification. The question of effective regulation of traffic over the main road, which provide access not merely to the business places situate therein but also serve as the sole connecting link between the highways leading upto Madras, from the south, west and north of the City, appears to have engaged the attention of the Government for quite a long time. Traffic congestion, apart from its inconvenience, is not unoften the cause of road accidents. Regulation of traffic is one of the essential

duties of the police. Modern methods of traffic control have to be adopted in the interests of the public generally. It has been estimated that nearly 55000 vehicles pass through the Mount Road between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. roughly about 75 vehicles per minute. With the increasing prosperity of the country and of the tempo of business activity, the problem is bound to present itself in a more acute form hereafter, particularly as the registration of motor vehicles has of late been showing a steady increase. The technical aspect of the question formed the subject matter of study by the Traffic Department Committee appointed by the Government in the year 1960 Traffic surveys were undertaken by it and the requisite information was collected. It was found that the number of vehicles, at any given time, that passed through the Mount Road was the heaviest between the Round Tana and the Gemini Roundabout. Of them, 50 to 55 percent were motor vehicles, 43 to 48 per cent were cycles and the remaining accounted for the slow moving bullock-carts, handcarts, rickshaws etc. Several causes were found to be responsible for the traffic delays and congestio