Kochi: The Kerala High Court has ruled that the state government should decide how it was going to recover the losses suffered by the KSRTC from the sponsors of the hartal called by the Popular Front of India (PFI) on Friday.
The court directed the government to give a report before October 17 when the court would take up the case for further hearing.
The court directed that the action by the state government should be swift, decisive, deterrent and adequate to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.
The High Court had taken suo motu case against the PFI for violating the court order that a notice of seven days should be given before calling a hartal.
The court had said that the PFI office bearers should be held responsible for the losses suffered to public and private property due to hartal called by the PFI to protest against the
arrest of its leaders by the NIA.
The government informed the court that 70 buses were damaged causing a loss of about Rs 50 lakh which the court observed was much less as the damage to buses would affect the earnings.
The court observed that the perpetrators were under the impression that they could get away with it.
The court directed the chief secretary and the home secretary to overview the follow up action and report to the court.
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