GEORGE KOSHY Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Writ Petitions under Art.226 of the Constitution raise seminal issues in the matter of administration of justice.

(2.) In Bharat Kumar v. State of Kerala ( 1997 (2) KLT 287 (FB)) a Full Bench of this Court held that declaration of a bundh and the holding of it is unconstitutional and that political parties and the organisers who call for such bunds and enforce them are liable to compensate the Government, the public and the private citizens for the loss suffered by them. Dealing with fundamental rights under Art.19, the Full Bench observed:

(3.) It would appear that, despite the categoric pronouncement by the Full Bench of this Court, political parties, their sympathisers and the State Government and its officers are neither alive to their constitutional obligations nor responsive to their constitutional duties. The agitation is styled as jail bharo, which implies nothing less than open defiance of the authority of the law and the State machinery and daring the State to take action under the law. The constitutional implications of such an action cannot be ignored for they have serious consequences. In our considered view, irrespective of the label attached to such an agitation, whether it be jail bharo, gherao, bundh, hartal or any other, the illegality of such action and the fact that such action infringes the fundamental rights of other citizens cannot be gainsaid.