V P IBRAHIM KUTTY Vs. HOTEL PARK RESIDENCY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These applications for review, filed by the third parties, against the judgments of this Court dated 16.05.2017 in W.P.(C) No.12822 of 2017 and 19.05.2017 in W.P.(C) No. 16647 of 2017, have been filed on the foundational basis that this Court had erred in declaring the status of the stretches of roads between Kannur-Vengalam-Kuttippuram and Cherthala-Oachira-Thiruvananthapuram as not being National Highways.

(2.) The leave applications that preceeded these review petitions were allowed by order dated 07.06.2017, to which I will refer in detail presently, because I was of the view that since this lis has spilled over to the public domain, it thus no longer continuing itself to the character of mere adversarial lis, it is only appropriate that the matter be considered more comprehensively. Even before the Special Leave Applications were admitted, I had minuted certain prefatory observations in my order dated 06.06.2017 as under:

(3.) These matters were thereafter listed on 07.06.2017. On that day, the learned Senior Government Pleader who appeared for both the Public Works Department and the Excise Department conceded, without any reservation, that the roads in question namely Kannur-Vengalam-Kuttippuram between 148 kms to 318 kms and Cherthala-Oachira-Thiruvananthapuram between 379.100 kms to 551.900 kms were National Highways, as per the relevant notifications, issued by the Union of India, under the provisions of the National Highways Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). It was also informed to this Court on that 13 Bars/Liquor shops, that were allowed to operate subsequent to the judgments sought to be reviewed, were also closed down and their licences revoked in terms of the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Tamil Nadu v. V.K. Balu,2017 1 KHC 26 (SC). Noticing all these submissions, I have recorded a second order in these proceedings on 07.06.2017.