JUDGMENT :

One would be called an incorrigible fabulist if it were to be said that extortion is legitimate and practiced in a civilized society.

2. But this is exactly what has been going on unobtrusively for the last several years, if not decades, in Kerala, under the inventive euphemism “Nokku Kooli”.

3. It is unclear when “Nokku Kooli” literally translated to mean “Gawking Charges” spread its tentacles in our little State; but it is common, admitted and irrefutable knowledge - forcing this Court to have taken judicial notice of it - that it is being practiced, as if it is a matter of entitlement, by various trade Unions and its members.

4. Though mired by lack of clarity, “Nooku Kooli” is indubitably the unintended by- product of a well intended legislation - the Kerala Head Load Workers Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”, for short).

5. The mid 1950's in Kerala, saw a significant increase in the exploitative tendencies against the “informal sector”, which mirrored the burgeoning of a band of workers increasingly reliant on the vagaries of a globalized capitalist mode of enterprise and production.

6. The dichotomy between “formal” and “informal” sectors came to be acknowl