Dealing with half a dozen petitions pertaining to the ongoing protests in the Capital against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Delhi High Court Tuesday sought records of pleadings and submissions that the petitioners as well as the government made before the Supreme Court. The HC also asked the counsel appearing for the Centre and other authorities to seek instructions from the respective departments regarding contentions raised in the court on the petitions.Among the petitions that a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma dealt with on Tuesday was one by NSUI president Vinod Jakhar that sought the court’s intervention and an independent probe into allegations of assault by alleged “anti-social elements” on October 10 at Connaught Place and near Jantar Mantar.At the outset, the Centre, through ASG Chetan Sharma and standing counsel Ashish Dixit, raised an objection on whether the petition can be entertained since Jakhar is affiliated to NSUI, which he had not disclosed, as per HC norms.The court granted the Centre three weeks to file its preliminary objections even as Jakhar requested that the authorities be instructed in the meantime to preserve CCTV footage, adding that he has filed the petition in his personal capacity and not representing NSUI. The request was not acceded to at this stage.On ‘house arrests’, ‘’illegal detention’A plea by law student Anshika Tripathi and another practising advocate has challenged various restrictions imposed preceding and during the protest, further arguing that denying permission to protest at a site and preventive restrictions must be assessed separately and denial to protest at a particular venue cannot be conflated to restricting persons from traveling to Delhi or assembling across the city. While the petitioners flagged a “grave concern” in “the manner in which people have been placed under house arrest”, they also requested the court to call on the state to “clarify as to how many persons are under house arrest and detentions, and under what order” on oath. The court, however, did not issue any direction.On disruption, economic sufferingPractising advocate Rishabh Saxena raised concerns over the “absence, or the inadequate implementation of a coordinated traffic-management mechanism for public assemblies and demonstrations in the Mandi House-Jantar Mantar, and other areas of central Delhi”, taking objection to the gathering at the Mandi House junction on Monday, when Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, led INDIA bloc leaders to the Supreme Court. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday after a protest march against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the alleged irregularities in the electoral roll revision. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)Saxena, in his plea, has complained that his journey from Defence Colony to a court premise was delayed by two hours due to the gathering obstructing the way.Story continues below this adIn two other pleas — one by a street vendors’ association and another by a traders’ association — both of which had not been formally notified and listed at the time of hearing, it was submitted that the protests near Jantar Mantar, despite denotification of the site as a designated protest site, brought the city to a halt.FULL COVERAGE | Cockroach Janta Party’s anti-Gyanesh Kumar protest in DelhiSenior advocates Sanjay Poddar and Sacchin Puri argued, “Today thousands come and take over the area and the city comes to halt. We are seeking implementation of SC’s order(s) and the SOP (for conducting protest) … Today, they (police) have said Jantar Mantar, and rightly so, that it won’t be designated as a protest site … Streets are being blocked, markets are being shut down … these are festival seasons; more than Rs 2,000 crore has been lost … October-February is the best time for business and that is being jeopardised.”The apex court too is dealing with protest-related petitions.The HC’s division bench will take up the petitions next on Friday, while the Supreme Court deferred hearing of pleas scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.