‘Reply to PIL against bandh’

MUMBAI: A division bench of the Bombay high court (HC), while wondering aloud whether its orders restraining bandhs in the state would have any effect on political parties, directed the state to respond to the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by former police commissioner Julio Ribeiro and three others. The PIL in question seeks to penalise the political parties which called for a statewide bandh on October 11 to protest the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, and to restrain political parties from calling bandhs in future as they are unconstitutional.

A bench comprising chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Makarand Karnik while hearing the PIL filed by Ribeiro (92), Gerson Da Cunha (92), Dattatraya Sukhtankar (89), and Cyruz Guzder (76) was informed that the October 11 bandh was unprecedented and called by the three parties in power in the state.

The PIL stated that it was understandable that a bandh was called by Opposition parties or their members but this bandh was called by the coalition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and caused losses to the tune of ₹3,000 crore to the exchequer.

The PIL added that the bandh was unconstitutional as it affected citizens’ rights and therefore illegal and hence sought directions to the ruling allies to pay, jointly and/or severally, exemplary damages/compensation to the union of India and the state of Maharashtra and to the affected citizens/persons, through a bandh loss compensation fund, 2021. The bench appreciated the petitioners’ concerns and stated, “Who is to identify who is affected and the extent of him being affected and how much compensation he should be given?”