A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday ordered the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and its state secretary A.K. To recover ₹5.2 crore for the damages caused during the sudden strike on 23rd September. Terming the government’s approach as ‘callous’ and ‘disrespectful’ of the court’s directions, a division bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Mohd. Nias CP directed the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, to appear in person on December 23, wherein The details of the time frame for completing the recovery proceedings against the PFI state leader were given. When the contempt of court case against the illegal organization and its state secretary came up for hearing on 8 November, the state government assured the court that recovery action would be taken and action would be taken within a month. The court observed that nothing concrete has been done by the state government to comply with the directions of the courts including providing office space to the Claims Commissioner. The government sought more time to implement the directions and submitted that it was “impractical” to complete the recovery process within a short period of one month. The government also informed the court that it was unable to provide assistance to the Claims Commissioner at the Collectorate due to shortage of staff and space for the office. The Bench observed that the State Government could not adopt such a callous attitude when it was asked to implement the Court’s directions, especially in matters of public interest and those involving destruction of public property. The court also made it clear that under no circumstances the time given for compliance of its directions shall be extended beyond January 31, 2023.