The Supreme Court on Friday said it may compensate Connaught Place traders for losses caused by the Central Park closure. The bench noted, "Small shopkeepers earn their livelihood during these days. We know the hardship and difficulty entire families will face." The court will hear the matter later this month.
The Supreme Court on Friday assured traders that it would consider compensation for their losses if the New Delhi Municipal Council's order closing Central Park at Connaught Place for a proposed protest by the Cockroach Janta Party was found to be disproportionate, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi gave the assurance while declining an urgent hearing on a petition challenging the order. The court indicated that the matter could be listed on October 26 or 27.
Declining to hear the plea immediately, the bench said, "We hope better sense will prevail on everyone. Small shopkeepers earn their livelihood during these days. We know the hardship and difficulty entire families will face."
"If there is a loss of business, and we hold that it is unlawful to your clients, we will exercise our powers under constitutional tort jurisdiction. Let's cross that bridge when it comes," Justice Bagchi said, according to PTI.
Justice Bagchi said the court had sufficient powers under compensation and public law to intervene if the council's order was found to impose a disproportionate restriction.
"If we feel that the NDMC's order is a disproportionate restriction, we told you, there is ample jurisdiction evolved by this court under compensation and public law. We will act," he said.
Justice Bagchi said the issues surrounding the protest, including the right to protest, the proposed sale of "mungfali" or peanuts, and law-and-order concerns, were interconnected.
"Someone wants to protest, someone wants to sell 'mungfali', someone wants law and order. All these are related," he said. The judge added that the court could intervene if the measures were found to be disproportionate.
Cockroach Janta Party leader Abhijeet Dipke had called on "patriots" to gather with the national flag at Central Park in Delhi's Connaught Place on Friday evening. He alleged that party members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka had been "jailed for unfurling the tricolour".
Das and Ranka were sent to five days' judicial custody on Wednesday and lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly violating their peace bonds and entering Jantar Mantar, which has been removed from the list of designated protest areas.
The court, while refusing an urgent hearing, assured the traders that it would act under its public law and compensation powers if the closure order was later found to be unlawful or disproportionate.