Right to road part of right to life: Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that right to a road up to the homestead of every citizen is a part of the right to life. A Division Bench of the High Court also made it clear that a gram panchayat is under an obligation to provide a “revenue rasta” (an access road that is documented in government revenue records) to even a solitary villager to completely subserve his constitutional right to life.

“The constitutional mandate of right to life also encapsulates the right to a road being constructed up to the homestead of any citizen for facilitating ambulance services being purveyed to a citizen requiring emergent medical aid,” the Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Kuldeep Tiwari asserted.