Political parties may have to think twice before giving a bandh cry now. The BJP-Sena combine for starters, may have to shell out financial compensation for holding Mumbai to ransom on July 30. A High Court division bench of acting Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S.U. Kamdar, in an oral comment on Wednesday, said the parties would have to pay substantial compensation for calling the bandh on July 30.The observation was in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by AGNI and four independent daily-wage earners. The PIL calls for financial compensation from the responsible parties, the BJP and Shiv Sena. One of the petitioners, Vinod Kumar, a motor mechanic for instance, claims to have lost his daily wage of Rs 200.AGNI petitioners Gerson da Cunha, Alque Padamsee and B.G. Deshmukh made a study and filed an estimate of Rs 50 crore as loss to the city. The bandh was called following the Ghatkopar bus bomb blasts that shook the city last year.Says A.P. Chinoy, counsel for the petitioners, ‘‘A bandh is coercive. This bandh call was a clear violation of the Supreme Court order of 1997.’’The High Court during the hearing also slammed the parties for not bothering to file replies to the notices sent by the petitioner. The BJP-Sena said the parties could not do so since they were busy during elections. The HC has now given them two weeks to file the affidavits. The final hearing has been scheduled for June 30.Petitioner B.G. Deshmukh told The Indian Express, ‘‘This PIL was filed because there is a High Court order stating that bandhs are illegal.’’
