Overview
- The Supreme Court held that the right to walk on designated footpaths is protected by Articles 19(1)(d) and 21 and that pedestrians’ claim to pavements outweighs motor vehicles.
- Reporters who surveyed multiple high-footfall stretches across Delhi found footpaths that are fragmented, dug up, occupied by stalls or parked vehicles, and interrupted without warning, forcing people onto the carriageway.
- Academic and official data show large gaps and harms: an IIT Delhi/TRIPP study found nearly 44% of Delhi roads lack footpaths and Delhi Police recorded 649 pedestrian deaths and 1,738 injuries in 2025.
- Authorities have used enforcement—Delhi Traffic Police issued 430,202 on-the-spot challans for improper parking between January and March—but civic officials acknowledge systemic failures and have only promised reviews rather than a citywide remediation plan.
- On-the-ground causes include dumped debris, makeshift stalls, parked cars, broken slabs, low-hanging signs and tree cut-outs, which disproportionately endanger elderly, disabled and 'captive' pedestrians and are made harder to fix by split municipal responsibilities.