Kerala HC bans 'flash' hartals, makes seven-day notice mandatory

The Kerala High Court on Monday passed an order banning 'flash' hartals, making it mandatory for any organisation to issue a notice for the invoking of a shutdown at least seven days in advance.

"Hartal without 7 days notice is unconstitutional and within those 7 days any citizen can challenge Hartal,” the court said.

The court also expressed strong disapproval at the practice of calling hartals at the drop of a hat.

The order was passed by a bench comprising of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The petition stated that last year, 97 hartals were held in Kerala, which had a severe impact on business and livelihood of workers, causing loss worth crores.

READ MORE: Why a group in Kerala wants people to say no to hartals

The petition also sought police protection for shops and commercial establishments during hartals.

All prominent political parties of the State—CPI(M), Congress, BJP, IUML and Kerala Congress(M)—were made respondents in the petition in High Court. 

The order comes days after the Sabarimala Karma Samithi gave the call for a state-wide bandh on January 3 protesting against the entry of young women at the Sabarimala shrine. The hartal led to widespread violence across the state and over 2,000 people accused of perpetrating violence were arrested. Over 100 KSRTC buses were vandalised during the shutdown, causing massive losses for the state-owned road transport company.

In Kerala, educational institutions are one of the major victims of regular hartals. However, the major economic loss is for the state's tourism industry since hartals have created a negative impression, where vehicles are blocked and tourists are threatened, and has resulted in numerous cancellations of pre-bookings.