IBRAHIM HAJI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two persons, who are owners of saw mills situated on the side of the Conolly Canal in Calicut District seek a writ of mandamus in this petition for directing the Kerala State and the Public Health Engineering authorities to refrain from blocking the navigational facility under the Mooriad Bridge in the canal and also to quash the order prohibiting the traffic in the canal under the Bridge.

(2.) Conolly canal is a tidal and navigable public water way. This canal was constructed under the orders of Mr. Conolly, then Collector of Malabar and was completed in the year 1848. There are a number of saw mills, some tile factories and other industrial establishments by the side of the canal on the northern side of the Mooriad Bridge. A large number of workmen employed in the various industrial establishments by the side of canal are depending for their livelihood on the working of these establishments. The canal also serves as an outlet for the discharge of flood water to the connecting rivers. It is also declared as a Navigational Canal by a notification issued under the Madras Canals and Public Ferries Act (Act 2 of 1890).

(3.) The canal which flows north-south divides the thickly populated areas of the Calicut Corporation into two parts The most thickly populated area as also the industrial and commercial area lies to the west of the canal. The main let out for the finished products of the various industrial establishments on the side of the canal is through this water way which joins the Kallai river and then the Arabian Sea. Mooriad Bridge is at a distance approximately hall a kilometre from the junction of the Conolly Canal and the Kallai river. The finished goods are brought by country crafts through the canal and a good quantity of the goods are taken to places on the sea coast like Bombay through the Sea.