Traders moved the Delhi High Court after losing Rs 2,000 crore due to protest curbs. Senior advocate Sacchin Puri said, "All we want is implementation of the SOP." The court allowed an urgent hearing on Tuesday. Meanwhile, police shifted protest sites to Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground recently.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday allowed urgent listing of pleas by lawyers' and traders' associations seeking implementation of a Standard Operation Procedure at designated protest sites. According to the petitioners, traders have lost Rs 2,000 crore owing to barricades and other restrictions imposed due to protests.

Senior advocate Sacchin Puri, representing the petitioners, said, "All we want is implementation of the SOP, of what has already been put in place by the Supreme Court... we are only seeking implementation of our basic rights."

While Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma insisted initially that the Supreme Court is already dealing with protest-related petitions, he subsequently did not object to the Delhi HC hearing the pleas today.

The HC will also hear a plea by National Students' Union of India (NSUI) president Vinod Jakhar seeking a probe against alleged "anti-social elements" who assaulted protesters at Janatar Mantar on October 10.

It is also likely to hear a plea on concerns over protest sites.

Over the past week, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and Left student groups and parties, as well as Opposition leaders, have been staging protests around Central and South Delhi demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls. The Delhi Police had imposed stringent curbs while denying permission to protest at Jantar Mantar, detaining hundreds who turned up for the protests including students, opposition leaders and advocates from the High Court and Supreme Court.

Petitions before the court

On Monday, Acting Chief Justice Nitin Sambre had refused to list two pleas for hearing, citing pendency of petitions pertaining to the ongoing protests before the Supreme Court. He had said the pleas will be listed on Tuesday.

* One petition flagged that no alternative protest site was designated after Jantar Mantar was closed for protests by police. However, later in the day, the Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site and instead designated three other venues: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground. As of now, no detailed SOP has been issued on how protests are permitted at the three sites.

An advocate, requesting that this plea be heard Monday, said, "The right to free speech has been quelled to a great extent... Jantar Mantar has been closed and no alternate site has been designated for today to protest. This is absolutely going to be a black day, we faced this in 1975 (when then PM Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency)..."

* The second petition was by the NSUI president.