India, June 23 -- The Supreme Court has just told India that walking is not a privilege motorists tolerate - it is a fundamental right. Chandigarh, of all cities, should have no trouble living up to that. It currently does not.

On June 19, a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar, held that the right to walk on a safe, demarcated footpath flows from Article 19(1)(d) - freedom of movement - read with Article 21, the right to life and dignity.

Pedestrian rights, the court said, are "primary" and override the claims of motorised traffic.

The judgment traces back to Olga Tellis v. Bombay municipal corporation (1985); it is restating settled dignity jurisprudence, not breaking new ground.

The case stems from an MACT (Motor Ac...