In a significant judgement the Orissa High Court has directed the State government to take strong action against the persons blocking highways during agitational programmes and collect compensation from them for damages to the public and private properties.

A division bench of the High Court consisting of Justice B P Das and Justice M M Das issued the directive while disposing of a writ petition filed by one Chamara Soy who lost his 14-year-old son due to delay in treatment because of the road blockade by tribals in the industrial township of Kalinga Nagar last year following a police firing incident. The court directed the government to collect the damage amount from the persons involved in the road blockades under Orissa Public Demand Recovery Act.

Similarly, the court has also asked the government to amend the Orissa Education Act to issue negative conduct certificates to the students involved in road blockades. The cost of the damages caused by the road blockades by the students would have to be borne by their parents.

The parents would give an undertaking in this regard during the admission of the students into different educational institutions.The students of the private engineering colleges in the state had recently inflicted heavy damages to the public and private properties on the roads of Bhubaneswar during an agitation following differences with the government over teaching methods.

The High Court granted a compensation of Rupees 1 lakh from the state government for Mr Soy who had lost his son during the Kalinga Nagar road blockade which had continued for more than a year.

As many as 523 road blockades had been staged across the state during the period from October 2005 to September 2006, as per a report furnished in the High Court by the state government.