A renewed discussion has emerged around a past legal battle linked to the Sethusamudram project, after a report highlighted the Supreme Court’s observations made during the 2007 dispute over a statewide shutdown announced by the then DMK government.
According to the account, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government declared that buses would not run and shops would remain closed on October 1, 2007, pressing for immediate implementation of the Sethusamudram project. At the time, the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre, with DMK ministers also part of it. The report notes that the project had also been entangled in litigation, including a Supreme Court stay related to breaking the Ram Setu.
AIADMK moved the Madras High Court seeking a declaration that a government-backed bandh was illegal. The state argued it was only a “hartal” and that the public would participate voluntarily without coercion. The High Court declined to restrain the protest, after which AIADMK appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court took up the matter on an unusual Sunday hearing on September 30, 2007, citing urgency as the shutdown was scheduled for the next day. The bench heard arguments for about three hours, with AIADMK contending that essential services would be paralysed.
During the hearing, the judges questioned the state’s claim that it was merely a hartal, pointing to the wording of the resolution that called for shops to be shut and work to stop. The bench also pressed the government side on who the protest was directed against—whether the Union government or the court itself—bringing the bandh-versus-hartal distinction back into focus.
