Cycle to Supreme Court to solve parking woes – CJI Lodha to lawyers

The hearing in a writ petition pertaining to parking problem in the Supreme Court took an interesting turn yesterday. Current Chief Justice of India RM Lodha remarked that lawyers should consider using bicycles to come to the Supreme Court to address this issue..The writ petition was filed by NGO Indian Council of Legal Aid & Advice in 2000 concerning parking problems. The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had impleaded itself in the case. When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, Solicitor General (SG) Ranjit Kumar appeared for the Central government while Advocate Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the SCBA..Bhati pointed out that the Appu Ghar plot was proposed to house parking space for a good number of vehicles but since the construction work there was delayed, parking problems in the Supreme Court persisted..Chief Justice Lodha seemed very keen to resolve the problem and engaged in a lengthy dialogue with the SG telling him to,.“Find a solution to the problem. You have been taking adjournment after adjournment. Not doing anything creates an impression that you are avoiding it.”.Two solutions were proposed, to allot space outside Pragati Maidan or to block Bhagwan Das road during court hours..However, Justice Lodha went one step further and remarked:.“Why can’t you reduce the use of cars in Supreme Court? Why can’t you use cycles? It will be environmental friendly too. Lawyers are leaders of change. You should usher in changes.”.The CJI’s remark seemed to be in a lighter vein and the SG replied that it was not possible for lawyers to cycle from Noida, Gurgaon and other far off places..“At least lawyers living close by can consider cycling” was Justice Lodha’s response..The matter has been adjourned for six weeks after the SG agreed to look into the problem and come up with a solution.