Thursday, June 23 2005 15:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has ordered Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to pay Rs 20 lakh each as compensation to Maharashtra Government for the losses incurred during a bandh, observed by the parties in Mumbai on July 30, 2003 to protest a Ghatkopar bomb blast.

A bench comprising Justice A P Shah and Justice S U Kamdar signed the order yesterday (Jun 22, 2005).

The order was in response to a PIL was filed by AGNI, theatre personality Alyque Padamsee and former Municipal Commissioner B G Deshmukh, alleging that the city had suffered an estimated loss of Rs 50 crore due to the bandh.

The group submitted that not only was the bandh forced on the people of Mumbai, it was violating of the Supreme Court order of 1997 prohibiting political parties from resorting to such methods of agitation.

The Shiv Sena and BJP had, however, claimed that the bandh was spontaneous in protest against the blast that had claimed two lives and left 31 injured.

Shiv Sena spokesman Subhash Desai, in an affidavit filed before the court, had said that in a democracy, industrial and political actions do result in disruption of services causing inconvenience to people.

The bandh was on July 30, 2003 called to protest a blast in suburban Ghatkopar, which had taken place on July 28, 2003 and had left two persons dead and 31 injured.