The Ernakulam Munsiff Court on Tuesday ordered LDF leader Vaikom Viswan and BJP leader V. Muraleedharan to pay damages to an entrepreneur for the losses he suffered during a hartal called by both the parties in September 2011.
The petitioner, George John, runs a small scale unit at Kalamassery. Though his workers turned up for work on the day of the hartal, workers of the LDF and the BJP threatened Mr. John and asked him to shut down the unit. Mr. John and his workers suffered losses amounting to Rs. 3,710 due to the loss of a day’s work, said his advocate Joy Thattil. Mr. John then filed a petition before the court. The two leaders did not respond to the court’s summons and did not appear in court, said Mr. Thattil.
The court ordered Mr. Viswan and Mr. Muraleedharan to pay him Rs.3,710 and 12 per cent interest on the sum till the date of the order.
