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SC stays Kerala HC order on protests: PTI

Hearing two petitions filed by the Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxists, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand and Justices R C Lahoti and Shivaraj V Patil stayed two directives given by a division bench of the Kerala High Court on June 1, 2000 asking it to take action against political parties forcing hartals on public.

The apex court also issued notices to the State of Kerala, director general of Kerala police and petitioner before the Kerala High Court, the Institute of Social Welfare.

The high court had directed the EC to take a decision on complaints against a party calling for hartals and after a fair hearing, take a "decision for deregistration of that party or organisation, if it is warranted by the circumstances of that case."

Appearing for the Congress, former attorney general K Parasaran said the question of law was whether the high court was competent under Article 226 of the Constitution to direct the EC to start proceedings for deregistration of a political party when under the Representation of People's Act there was no provision for deregistration.

In 1997, the high court had held that calling for bandhs and their enforcement were illegal and unconstitutional. The judgement was upheld by the apex court.

Petitions were filed in the high court, complaining that coercion was used for implementation of hartals called by political parties and that though the apex cout had made a distinction between hartals and bandhs, a hartal accompanied by threats of violence would be unconstitutional.

The high court had declared that the "enforcement of a hartal call by force, intimidation, physical or mental and coercion would amount to an unconstitutional act and a party has no right to enforce it by resorting to force or intimidation."

Appearing for the CPI-M, senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan said the power to deregister was drastic and Section 29A of the RP Act, which provided for registration of political parties, did not include the power to deregister a party.

The Congress said a party may call for a hartal and its implementation through peaceful means. Merely because its implementation at one or two places was done the way bandhs were enforced on the spur of the moment, initiating deregistration against the party would be uncalled for.

"Even if a political party calls for a peaceful demonstration, some other miscreants could use force and land the political party in trouble, which will have a drastic consequence and democratic rights would stand infracted," it said.

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