Observing that parking cannot be allowed on the margins of the Container Road, a division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the State government to take strong action against the illegal practice.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy made the observation when a writ petition filed by George Abraham of Pachalam seeking a directive to the State government to remove all encroachments and stop parking of container trucks on the road came up for hearing.
Unauthorised fee
The court also noted that even unauthorised fee were collected from drivers of trucks parked along the road. This was illegal and could not be permitted, the bench said.
The bench pointed out that accidents were frequent on the road because of the parking of container trucks. The police should take strong action against it.
Senior Government Pleader P. Narayanan submitted that the police were taking action against operators for parking their trucks on the road.
Whenever the police took strict action against them, organisations of truck owners went on strike, alleging inaction on the part of the authorities in provide adequate parking facility near the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), Vallarpadam.
The administrative process for setting up the new parking facility was yet to be finalised.
As many as 1,200 trucks were plying daily to ICTT where only 400 trucks could be parked.
The government pleader said protests by operators would affect the movement of containers, impeding the operation of ICTT.
The operators had gone on an indefinite strike in August 2017 following a similar action against illegal parking.
The strike was called off only after a conciliatory meeting. He further submitted that though two toilets were constructed on both sides of NH near Ponnarimangalam toll plaza, they were not functional.
The court directed the State government and other respondents, including the Cochin Port Trust, to file a statement in response to the writ petition.