During the Trinamool Congress-sponsored bandh in West Bengal on Friday, the one institution that people expected to function normally was the Calcutta high court, which had ordered the party to call off the strike. However, it was not to be.
A division bench, comprising Justice Pratap Roy and Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, had on November 30 directed the Trinamool Congress to call off its strike, declaring that bandhs were illegal and unconstitutional.
The high court registrar-general, T Mukherjee, had, in a circular to court employees on Thursday, said that the courts would remain open and 'all employees shall report for duty'.
"In the event of wilful failure of the employees to attend office, they will suffer deduction of pay on that date," he had said.
Though all the 40 judges were present, only nine of the 73 court officers reported for duty, affecting the working of all the major departments like filing, affirmation, computer and record.
The bandh, called by the Trinamool Congress to protest against the hike in fuel prices, affected normal life in some parts of the state.
Advocate Idris Ali, on whose Public Interest Litigation the court had issued the direction to the TC, claimed that the HC order had a positive effect, as more people were seen on the roads and better attendance was reported in offices compared to previous bandhs.