In an age when cities across the world are rediscovering the joy of walking, Shimla didn’t need reminding. It was built for it. The Mall Road was never just a stretch of tarmac; it was the city’s living room, where the rhythm of footsteps replaced the honk of horns, and strolling with an umbrella and jacket was a way of life. Walking wasn’t an afterthought here, it was the culture.
But the walker’s town is stumbling. What was once a paradise for pedestrians is now tripping over cars that creep into every nook and cranny. Drop-off passes double as overnight parking permits, and even sealed roads are no longer sacred. A town designed for shoes is being hijacked by wheels. And if the sidewalks are choking, the playgrounds are gasping. Grounds that once rang with cricket shots and the laughter of children have been swallowed by rows of parked vehicles. Instead of being the lungs of the town, these spaces are turning into parking lungs for cars. In Shimla today, the choice seems stark: a game of football, or another dozen SUVs. Guess who’s winning?
It is against this backdrop that the Himachal Pradesh High Court stepped in this week, pulling up the civic authorities and reminding everyone that Shimla’s soul cannot be parked.. The Himachal Pradesh High Court has raised serious concerns over the worsening state of cleanliness, parking shortages, and misuse of restricted roads in Shimla, observing that the city is fast losing its traditional charm as a pedestrian-friendly hill station.
The matter came up during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate Deven Khanna on behalf of petitioner Sambhav Bhasin. The petition highlighted the unhygienic conditions and parking disorder on the public road from ARTRAC to Ram Bazar, where garbage had piled up due to vehicles blocking pedestrian pathways.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma passed the order, taking note of the photographs annexed with the petition that revealed two-wheelers and four-wheelers parked on pedestrian paths, forcing residents to dump waste behind vehicles. The Court observed that there was a lack of effective exercise of powers by the Municipal Corporation of Shimla and issued notices to the concerned authorities.
Restricted Roads and Overnight Parking
While expanding the scope of the PIL, the Court also addressed violations on the restricted stretch of the Mall Road from Rock Sea Hotel to Willow Bank, where vehicles with passes meant for drop-off purposes were being parked overnight. The Bench made it clear that such permissions can only be treated as drop zones and cannot be misused for long-term parking.
Shimla’s Culture Under Threat
Expressing its concern, the Bench remarked that Shimla is losing its walking culture of “umbrella and jacket”, which once defined the city’s identity. The judges cautioned that the hill town risks becoming like Mussoorie, where sealed roads are compromised by vehicular traffic. The Court stressed that the character of “Old Shimla” must be preserved.
Directions to Authorities
The Bench directed the Senior Superintendent of Police, Shimla, to file a status report on traffic enforcement and parking violations. It also asked the Secretary (Home), Government of Himachal Pradesh, to file a detailed report specifying how many passes have been issued for sealed roads, the rates charged, the purposes for which they were issued, and the categories of persons benefiting from them.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on October 10, 2025.
LawUmbrella 
Shimlaused to be the ‘car-free’ towns in the world. The Britishers had declared the long stretch of over 10 kms as vehicle free zonenwhere only horse riders and hand-pulled or cycle rikshawas were permitted. Shimla has now turned into a concrete jungle and people prefer vehicles over walking due to rapid population growth and infrastructure that has lagged behind, creating severe traffic congestion. There needs to be more vehicle free zones and restrictions on vehicular movement.
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