By IANS
New Delhi/Chennai : The Supreme Court stayed Monday’s proposed bandh (general shut-down) the ruling DMK and its allies have called in support of the Sethusamudram Sea Canal project, while Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Sunday threatened to undertake a protest “fast”.
A special bench of the apex court, headed by Justice B.N. Agarwal, Sunday stayed the DMK-sponsored state-wide shutdown after a three-hour hearing of a petition the opposition AIADMK has filed, challenging it.
The bandh was called to urge the union government to get an apex court vacate its stay on the construction of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP).
The Supreme Court bench, which also included Justice P.P. Naolekar, Sunday ordered the DMK-led government to desist from resorting to the bandh while severely castigating it for indulging in “illegal activities”.
The bench said the apex court has already in its rulings termed strikes and bandhs as illegal and warned the government against resorting to the shutdown. The state government would be violating the apex court order by doing so, it noted.
The bench said: “We cannot tolerate this type of conduct from political parties, more so, when it is the ruling one.”
“The public right to have a normal life is far superior than those of individual political parties’ rights,” the bench said while staying the bandh.
A division bench of the Madras High Court on Friday allowed the bandh, advising the state government to order all top officials “to ensure that no political parties or organisations can by force or intimidation stop or interfere with the road and rail traffic and free movement of citizens”.
The AIDMK Saturday approached the apex court to stop the bandh. It is opposed to the SSCP, which experts say, will affect the livelihood of fishing communities along the Rameswaram-Tuticorin (Gulf of Mannar-Palk Bay) area.
Sources in the DMK said Chief Minister Karunanidhi, his cabinet members and allies will begin their fast at Triplicane, in the heart of the city.