‘Why do literate people have to be told to follow the law?’

  • | Tuesday | 25th September, 2018

“I wonder why do literate people have to be told to follow the law,” asked Justice Lokur. “Unless there is a red light on at a traffic junction, people do not prefer to stop and look,” Justice Lokur observed orally. Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur on Monday opined that education or even literacy alone does not guarantee respect for the law. “But we have fire safety clearance,” Justice Lokur shot back. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the sealing matter, told the Bench that the motel had applied for regularisation on September 11.

more-in Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur on Monday opined that education or even literacy alone does not guarantee respect for the law. The Bench, also comprising Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, was wondering aloud about how most traders and building owners who have flouted building laws to construct illegal structures in the Capital were indeed educated and well-to-do people. At least 51,000 houses have illegal constructions in them. Justice Lokur’s observations proved true when senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for a motel owner in Chhatarpur in south Delhi who rents out his six acres for weddings, owned up that he was an educated person in know of the law. “I wonder why do literate people have to be told to follow the law,” asked Justice Lokur. Fire hazard The judge said people want to endanger others’ lives for their own profit, blind to the fact that a fire hazard may lead to loss of innocent lives. “Unless there is a red light on at a traffic junction, people do not prefer to stop and look,” Justice Lokur observed orally. Mr. Rohatgi said cloth pandals are a tradition followed in this country. “Even the Supreme Court uses cloth pandals for its functions on the lawns,” he said. “But we have fire safety clearance,” Justice Lokur shot back. Mr. Rohatgi said the basement of his client’s building was sealed by the authorities on September 14 and later the entire premises of six acres on September 20. He said they had made pandals due to the wedding season. He added that the pandals were removed by them, but the premises was still sealed despite the fact that they had already replied to the show cause notice issue by the authorities. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the sealing matter, told the Bench that the motel had applied for regularisation on September 11.

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