After Residents Blocked Stone-Crusher’s Trucks On Public Road, Madras HC Orders Police Protection, With Company Paying ₹4,000 A Day

The petitioner operated a licensed stone-crushing business at Nallamur Village and sought police protection to transport its products over the Kolathur–Kottivakkam Road.

Respondents 4–8, local residents, allegedly obstructed the petitioner’s vehicles, citing risks to schoolchildren and asserting that the petitioner used a shortcut across “Meikkal Poromboke.”

They had also submitted an objection to the Revenue Divisional Officer.

The Court impleaded them as respondents in the writ petition.

The State submitted that heavy vehicles did not use the road during school hours and that the obstruction had prevented the petitioner from operating for 60 days.

The Court relied on Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, under which the competent authority may restrict the use of a road or class of vehicles, and held that the Court could not usurp that authority’s jurisdiction by making an equivalent restriction without an applicable legal basis.

It also applied the principle that members of the public may use a road vested in the Government or a local body, and private persons cannot unlawfully prevent that use; grievances about heavy-vehicle traffic should be taken to the appropriate authority.

Any alleged encroachment on “Meikkal Poromboke” was a matter for the Revenue Department, not a basis for private obstruction.

The Court distinguished *Gouri Dandasena Sarpanch, Mahulpali G.P. v. State of Odisha*, AIR 2018 Orissa 69, because that case concerned a restriction order made by the District Collector under Section 115, whereas no such order existed here.

The petitioner’s business was supported by licences and permissions from the relevant departments, and the road in question was a public road rather than private property belonging to respondents 4–8.

The residents’ safety concern did not authorise them to obstruct the vehicles themselves; the Court noted the State’s submission that heavy vehicles did not ply during school hours.

If the residents sought restrictions on heavy vehicles, they had to apply to the competent authority under the Motor Vehicles Act.

As no restriction order had been made, the Court found no basis for either private obstruction or a judicially imposed restriction under Section 115.

The writ petition was ordered accordingly.