JUDGMENT

The petitioner seeks a direction to the 2^nd respondent, Assistant Executive Engineer, Irrigation Project, to remove the boards placed at the entrance and exit of the PWD road prohibiting the movement of heavy vehicles, as the said restriction is alleged to be illegal and arbitrary.

2. The petitioner contends that he is engaged in the business of operating a crusher unit and that all vehicles transporting materials to and from the unit necessarily pass through the Malankara Dam Road/MVIP Road to reach the main Thodupuzha–Anakayam Road. It is submitted that from the second week of December 2022, the petitioner’s lorries were stopped by the 3^rd respondent on the ground that movement of heavy vehicles through the said road had been prohibited by the 2^nd respondent, even though, at that point in time, no formal prohibition order