Kochi: The Kerala High Court orally observed on Monday that while people can carry out protests, this does not give them the license to block public roads or footpaths.

“Any person can have the agitations in an appropriate way, but that will not give a license to put up stages on the public road or even on the pedestrian facilities provided on the road”, said Justice Anil K Narendran.

The Division Bench of Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S was considering the contempt case filed in the aftermath of the CPM’s Palayam area conference, held in Vanchiyoor, Thiruvananthapuram, reportedly blocking one-half of the road. Since then, the court has also taken notice of other similar incidents. The court had issued a notice of appearance to CPM leaders, Congress leaders and state officials involved in these incidents.

The court on Friday allowed CPM State Secretary M V Govindan to appear on 12 February instead of today. Other leaders who were summoned were present today. Addressing them, the court said it was informed that the meeting on Vanchiyoor Road was conducted despite the CI forbidding it to meet on a public street.

“When accidents are on the higher side, you can't force the public to move through unsafe circumstances when they are provided with a footpath. And you might have also seen different tiles passing through the footpath. That is intended for people with vision problems”, the court observed.

The personal appearance of all those who appeared before the court was dispensed with for the time being.
(With inputs from LiveLaw)