The Hindu Business Line : Right of way has a history of emerging democracy

ONE of the advantages that the state-owned GAIL has, compared to private telecom operators, is its `Right of Way' (RoW), informs the day's report about the company's move to acquire license for STD services. Since GAIL already has its pipelines in place, thanks to this right, it doesn't foresee the need for separate consent from local authorities across the country to lay cables, one learns.

While that should be disturbing news for the players in the long distance telephony market, one has the right to know what RoW is. RoW is "the legal right to pass along a specific route through another's property," defines Compact Oxford English Dictionary. A right of value, because apart from "high availability, redundant paths, power backup, state-of-art network, and integrated management system," `highly secure RoW' is listed among the `salient features' on http://gail.nic.in in the discussion on the GAILTEL OFC network.

The phrase also refers to "the area over which a right-of-way exists; the strip of land over which is built a public road; the land occupied by a railroad especially for its main line; the land used by a public utility (as for a transmission line)," explains Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Plural is rights-of-way and right-of-ways, it adds. "The legal right of a government, public utility, or private business to build and maintain a transport route, pipeline, or electrical line (usually granted with government authorisation or expropriation)," says Wiki.

On the use of the public RoW along highways, roads within urban areas in Town Panchayats, Municipalities and so on, for the purpose of laying OFC (optical fibre cable), there is a detailed order of the Tamil Nadu Government on www.tidco.com. It specifies `annual track rent' (such as, Rs 9,400 per km per year within Corporation of Chennai). Catch up with `RoW Policy for Laying of Communication Backbone in Haryana,' on http://haryana.gov.in. The site www.doitpunjab.gov.in speaks of `Guidelines for Streamlining the Provision of Clearance of RoW'.

In the UK, a public RoW exists under common law if it has been used for 20 years, informs http://en.wikipedia.org. "After hundreds of years of history, an enormous network of RoWs across private land exists with definitive maps maintained by local authorities." A railway example is of RailTel that was set up by the Government when the twentieth century was drawing to a close. It was launched "to exploit Railways' communication assets lying idle commercially," as www.railtelindia.com informs.

Key among such assets was the RoW along the 62,900-km railway network, which came to RailTel as equity contribution by the Railways. Interestingly, RailTel comes top in Google searches for RoW India. In the case of GAIL, "more than 70 per cent of the network is along the pipeline RoW," further enhancing the reliability of the network," as the company's site avers.

RoW is "the right to cross somebody else's property by a specific route, e.g. as a means of accessing your own property; and a lawful route that may be taken across somebody else's property," says Encarta. It is "the right to cross property to go to and from another parcel," says http://dictionary.law.com. RoW may be a specific grant of land or an easement, which is a right to pass across another's land, it explains. "The mere right to cross without a specific description is a `floating' easement. Some RoWs are for limited use such as repair of electric lines or for deliveries to the back door of a store," elaborates the dictionary.

In fencing, the phrase means "the right to attack or continue an attack, and thus to be credited with a hit, by virtue of having first extended the sword arm or having parried the opponent's attack," as www.infoplease.com informs. "In short track skating, the lead skater has the RoW and the passing skater is responsible for avoiding body contact," says www.hickoksports.com. "In long track skating, the skater who starts in the outside lane has the RoW at the crossover if they arrive at the same time, but otherwise the skater in the lead has the RoW."

The right of one vehicle to proceed before other vehicles coming from different directions, e.g. at junctions and roundabouts, is also RoW, as www.allwords.com explains. "In traffic ordinances, a driver is entitled to the RoW to proceed first ahead of other vehicles or pedestrians, depending on certain rules of the road, such as the first to reach an intersection," says Law.com. "Failure to yield the RoW to the vehicle or person entitled to it can result in a citation and fine, to say nothing of an accident. It can also be evidence of negligence in a lawsuit for injuries suffered in an accident," it points out.

Failure to yield the RoW is the US' second most common driver error; it is not just a breach of driver etiquette, but "breaking the law," dins in an angry line from www.nsc.org. "Drivers often rationalise these errors by claiming they `had' RoW. This is a common misconception. The fact is that no one has RoW; traffic regulations only state who must yield the RoW."

In Varanasi, "Holy cows have RoW on the streets in the city centre," as a photo caption reads on www.tropicalisland.de. "The cows in India always have RoW," declares a posting on www.travelpod.com. "Maine and/or Massachusetts: Always stop for cows in the road. India: Same rule. But, if you have any snacks in the car, share them with the cow. He could be your great-great-great grandfather," advises http://cartalk.com.

"There is a pecking order for RoW," instructs www.indax.com. "Cows are at the top, trucks and buses are second, and dogs and pedestrians are at the bottom. Two wheelers are pretty low down. You can only really lord it over bicycles and chickens." A posting on www.antonnews.com demands to know, "Why Don't Pedestrians Have the RoW?" Pedestrians shouldn't assume that they have got the RoW and should realise that they may not have been seen by the driver, counsels www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk "after a child was narrowly missed by a speeding driver on a zebra crossing".

"All animals have the RoW," stipulates www.jacksonholenet.com about the rules in Yellowstone National Park. "If you see buffaloes on the trail, stop, keep a safe distance and let them pass." Pedestrians, bullock carts, and livestock all appear to have the RoW, exclaims a page on Sri Lanka on www.eastravel.co.uk. "Whales Win Right-of-Way in Atlantic Shipping Lanes," reads a headline on http://news.nationalgeographic.com. Required because "when a ship and a northern right whale collide, the whale loses."

RoW is "the customary or legal right of a person, vessel, or vehicle to pass in front of another," notes The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. In land and air traffic and in sea navigation, rules determining precedence in the use of traffic lanes are framed "in the simplest possible terms and with nearly absolute uniformity in order to minimize the possibility of collisions," explains The Columbia Encyclopedia on www.bartleby.com.

"In land traffic, railroad trains, military vehicles in convoy, government vehicles (e.g., mail trucks), and emergency vehicles have the RoW over ordinary private vehicles. Rules of sea and air navigation are largely governed by international conventions and law." Wikipedia mentions `International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea' in this connection.

The site www.rightofway.com aims to increase the general public understanding of the RoW profession, and to provide an Internet presence for the profession and related infrastructure industries. You may come across `organisation dedicated to the overthrow of car tyranny,' on www.rightofway.org!

"RoW has a history of emerging democracy," proclaims www.irwaonline.org, the homepage of the International Right of Way Association. "With each advancement in modern technology has come the need for more public land and RoW, and simultaneously, the demand for new legal safeguards for the rights of the affected property owners." Each new safeguard has demanded advancements in the methodology and technology of the land acquisition and management profession, and new approaches to negotiation, valuation, management and disposal of real property or property rights, adds the site, quite rightly.

Therefore, the question whether a company that gets RoW originally for laying oil and gas pipelines can go on to exploit the right for telecom is open to debate, even as one can look forward to the future throwing open more options for a fuller exploitation of the RoW that's just lying there.

ZeroBase@TheHindu.co.in

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