Overview
- The bench in Maniyar Iliyaz v P Ayyappan held on June 19 that the right to walk safely on well‑demarcated footpaths is part of Article 19(1)(d) and Article 21, and converted the case into a continuing proceeding.
- The court named urban development authorities, municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayats as duty‑bearers required to demarcate, construct, maintain and safeguard footpaths and said citizens may seek constitutional remedies if those bodies fail.
- The Supreme Court added the Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Rural Development, and Road Transport and Highways to the case to shape national standards but did not issue notice to state governments, leaving primary implementation with states and cities.
- Coverage of cities shows major gaps in capacity and scale: Gurugram had only 153.6 km of footpaths covering 28 percent of roads, a CMMP flagged about 800 km lacking pedestrian infrastructure, and the city’s plan targets 1,083 km of footpaths by 2041.
- The ruling stressed limits and safeguards by saying the right is subject to reasonable restrictions and must not be used to justify harsh eviction of street vendors or exclusion of the urban poor, while national accident data underline urgency with over 36,000 pedestrian deaths reported in 2024.