Maratha community members celebrate after activist Manoj Jarange declared victory on the fifth day of his fast, outside CSMT in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Hardening its stance on what happened in South Mumbai during the Maratha reservation agitation led by Manoj Jarange-Patil, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday wanted to know who will pay for the damages to the public properties.
The matter came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, the acting Chief Justice and Justice Aarti Sathe, who on Tuesday had issued strict instructions to vacate the Azad Maidan.
The court’s observations came after Jarange-Patil, through his legal team, submitted to the court that the Maratha reservation agitation in Mumbai had been called off after talks with the Maharashtra government.
Senior counsel Satish Maneshinde and Advocate VM Thorat appeared for Jarange-Patil and the organisations that led the agitation, which was spread over five days.
"There are some issues. Large-scale damages were caused to public property. Who will pay for that," the bench asked the lawyers of the protestors.
The lawyers asserted that no such damage was caused except for inconvenience to the common man.
The bench said Jarange-Patil and the organisations must file affidavits clarifying their stand.
"The affidavits will have to say that they were not the instigators. There has to be a statement that they were not behind this. There are some serious allegations in the petitions…(and) if a statement of denial is not made on affidavit, then Jarange and his team will become instigators,” said the court.
The bench granted Jarange Patil and his team four weeks to file their affidavits.