'Don't let Gorkhaland stir hit Sikkim highway'

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday warned political parties not to block NH-31A, the only road linking Sikkim to the rest of the country, in support or opposition to the Gorkhaland agitation.

"Hereinafter anyone obstructs the road, we will take serious view. The party blocking the NH will be declared unlawful and we will direct detention of their leaders. We will be constrained to pass orders for detention of the leaders of the party blocking the NH," said a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan.

Reminding the Centre and the governments of West Bengal and Sikkim about their duty to keep NH-31A open, the Bench passed an order on a PIL filed by O P Bhandari, who had alleged that the small north-eastern state had suffered a lot for no fault of it.

The warnings were specifically given to pro-Gorkhaland party, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, and its main opponent Amra Bengali as also to Jan Jagran Manch and Jan Chetna.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate P H Parekh said that Sikkim was surrounded on three sides by China, Bhutan and Nepal and NH-31A was its only link to the rest of the country in the absence of any air service to the state. "Whenever the NH is blocked, there is a crisis in the state as even essential supplies get held up causing a lot of hardship to the people," he said.

Appearing for the state, senior advocate A Mariarputham supported Parekh and said the parties had breached the apex court's two-year-old interim order as many as eight times. West Bengal government through standing counsel Tara Chand Sharma said the two parties supporting and opposing Gorkhaland were the main trouble makers.

GJM's counsel tried to question the locus standi of the PIL petitioner and even accused Sikkim's ruling party of resorting to blockade of NH-31A. But the Bench brushed aside the objection and asked all political parties to scrupulously adhere to its directive or face consequences.