Kerala, which is notorious for hartals and bandhs, may soon have its Law Reforms Commission recommending to the state Government a law to ban both, says a news report in the Mathrubhumi. It says the Commission headed by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer is working on a draft public interest legislation for the state Government to that effect, because repeated orders by the Kerala High Court banning bandhs and hartals never found practical implemention. The report says the new law will arm the police with wider powers to cope with hartal-related violence on the premise that no political party could have the right to infringe on the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of the citizens. The report said the legislation would also have the mechanism for extracting compensation from political parties for destruction of public property if they call for hartals or bandhs.

Malayala Manorama

After a mad dog bit nearly 50 people in Kottayam last week and the town’s police and fire force had to sweat for hours to put the canine to sleep, an editorial in the daily blasted Menaka Gandhi for ordering that stray dogs should only be sterilised, not killed, when she was the minister of state for social welfare.

The editorial recalled that Menaka had asked for two vets to examine every dog showing symptoms of rabies and to confine them in isolation wards till they died a natural death. Kerala, while trying to follow these directions, had seen an increase in the stray dog population and resulted in increasing deaths from rabies. While calling for programmes to train more people to kill stray dogs, the editorial lauded a recent observation by the Kerala High Court, upholding the state panchayat ombudsman’s order to kill stray dogs on a war footing.

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