The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has suggested the government incorporate reasons for issuing any government order in the order itself to enable people to know the object of the order and to achieve transparency.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran (since retired) and B. Pugalendhi observed that transparent governance was the ultimate aim of any government. It would enable the common man to understand the reasons of the government implementing projects.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to Karur Ring Road Project that included the approach road work. The judges took note of the fact that government orders had been passed in this regard and subsequently revised several times.
The judges observed that the courts were not experts to decide what was the right alignment. It was for the authorities concerned to decide. But at the same time, public money could not be spent detrimental to the public interest.
“One should understand that around 50% of the income of an average individual is collected by the government as tax, in the colour of Income Tax, Sales Tax, GST, Road Tax, Wealth Tax, etc. Every rupee of public money is accountable and the administrators are expected to spend the taxpayers’ money cautiously and they are answerable for every pie they spend,” the judges observed.
Further, the court observed that transport planning should be in such a way to achieve safe, fast, comfortable, convenient, economic and environment-friendly movement of people and goods. The court suggested that the government consider the proposal for the ring road after ascertaining the present day developments in the area.
If the government orders explained the reasons, the number of litigations would reduce, the court observed and disposed of the batch of petitions.
