Photo: Johannes Bader / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
The Supreme Court on Friday, October 16, declined to take up urgently a traders’ association’s challenge to the closure of Central Park in Connaught Place. It made clear, though, that it could later order compensation if the curbs placed around the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned gathering turn out to have hurt shopkeepers and daily-wage earners unfairly.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the matter could be listed on October 26 or 27, after the court’s Dussehra break, which runs through next week.
What the traders asked for
Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai mentioned the plea for the traders. He pointed to an order the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) issued late on Thursday night closing Central Park, and argued that it would in effect stop business in the surrounding market during the festive season, when traders earn a large part of their annual income. He claimed the disruption around Connaught Place was costing more than ₹250 crore a day, and asked whether restrictions that hit labourers and vendors were proportionate.
The Chief Justice first said the issue was tied to the protest and could wait until October 26. Justice Bagchi noted that the Delhi High Court had heard a similar petition only a day earlier, and said the competing claims belonged together.
Someone wants to protest, someone wants to sell moongfali, someone wants to maintain law and order. All are there before us.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi
Compensation remains on the table
The bench indicated that a delay would not leave traders without a remedy. Justice Bagchi said that if the court found the restrictions disproportionate, it had ample power to grant relief under public and compensation law, including its constitutional tort jurisdiction. “Let’s cross that bridge when it comes,” he said. The Chief Justice said he hoped “better sense will prevail on everyone”, adding that small shopkeepers depend on these weeks to earn their living.
A fortified Connaught Place
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has asked supporters to gather with the national flag at Central Park at 5 pm on Friday. He alleges that party members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were jailed for unfurling the Tricolour. The two were sent to five days’ judicial custody for allegedly breaching their peace bonds and entering Jantar Mantar, which police have de-notified as a protest site.
Police say the march has no permission, and prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita are in force in the area. More than 6,000 Delhi Police personnel and 220 companies of central armed police forces have been deployed, and traffic restrictions around Connaught Place are expected from the afternoon. Dipke said late on Thursday that he expected to be detained before the march and was ready to go to jail.
Why it matters and what comes next
The case is the latest attempt to balance the right to protest against the livelihoods of people who work in the capital’s busiest commercial district. Protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls have brought repeated police curbs to central Delhi since October 10. On Thursday, the Delhi High Court recorded an assurance from the Delhi Police, given through Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, that it would take all possible lawful steps to regulate the gathering. That petition was filed by a Palika Bazar street vendor.
Friday evening will test that assurance. Once the court reopens after the vacation, the traders’ plea will come up again, and the bench will then be able to look at what the curbs actually cost.
