KOCHI: A strict monitoring of the police will be essential for the compliance of the High Court order banning temporary or permanent sheds along the roadsides. There were mixed responses from the legal fraternity and police officials.The police are of the opinion that the order could be implemented while the legal fraternity expressed a contradictory opinion."This is an order which will affect street vendors everywhere. What the legislature need to do is to bring in a regulation and not a total prohibition on such matters," said Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj."This is an infringement into the right to life of the street vendors. Such a court order shows that the court does not see this in a larger human prescriptive. In a way, it can be seen as going against two rights the right to life of the people under Article 21 of the Constitution and the right of the political parties which is again a right under Article 19 of the constitution, the right to expression," Raj said. But Advocate Nandagopal Nambiar, who practices in the High Court, is of the opinion that it would be beneficial if public meetings are not conducted on the roadsides as it would favour a person's right to movement."But this would in turn hurt the means of livelihood of many people. If the court is banning them from doing their business, then the government should take measures to rehabilitate them," he said.However, police are planning to take strict measures if the respective local bodies demand it. "There is no difficulty in implementing the order. We are ready to take action on demand of the local bodies," said Gopalakrishna Pillai, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi.Manoj Abraham, the Commissioner of Police of the state capital feels that there would not be any difficulty in implementing the court order, despite the dominant presence of politicians in the city where makeshift tents put up by agitating groups are a common sight."The city police have always maintained that putting up constructions, be it permanent or temporary, on public property as illegal. With the High Court also favouring our stance, we do not need to worry about the consequences before taking action against those who breach the law," Manoj Abraham told Express.In response to the ban imposed by the High Court on erecting shed on road sides, Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Sparjan Kumar said the order would be implemented by police. "In case of any problems or obstructions, it would be informed to the court and would act accordingly," he said.
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