The court was hearing a petition from a resident of NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh (UP), who was seeking relief from a protesting farmer’s road barricade.
While farmers have the right to protest, roads cannot be stopped continuously, according to a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
Monicca Agarwal, the petitioner, claimed that despite several orders from the Supreme Court to maintain public highways clear, they have not been obeyed. The petitioner, who is a single mother with medical concerns, said that travelling from Noida to Delhi has become a nightmare for her.
As a result, the Court ordered the federal government and the affected states to come up with a remedy.
In its response to the Court, the UP government stated that it is in the process of requesting farmers to clear the area for better traffic flow.
The UP administration said in an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court that it is attempting to persuade farmers that protesting by blocking highways is not authorised under previous Supreme Court rulings.
The Court gave the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments time to look into the matter and report back to the Court with a solution.
