New Delhi, Feb 25: The Supreme Court has asked the Tamil Nadu Government to justify the entry of police into the Madras High Court premises on February 19. It has directed the State Government to assess the damage done to the lawyers'' cars and the high court building in the police-lawyers clash and announce compensation for the injured lawyers by Thursday.

The apex court also condemned the lawyers for going on strike and creating a huge hue and cry inside courtrooms.

However, it has asked the government to respond to it by Thursday.

The violent clash between the police and the advocates in the Madras High Court on February 19 left over 50 lawyers, a judge and several policemen injured.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refrained from staying a Gujarat high court order that upheld the Central Pota Review Committee's (CPRC) recommendation that charges framed under the anti-terror law in the Godhra train fire case be withdrawn.

After sustained litigation by Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO headed by Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court held that the CPRC's decision would be applicable and those who the committee feels were wrongly charged under the terror law would now be tried under ordinary law.

The government on Tuesday said that the 300% hike in salaries of high court and Supreme Court judges was just a "token increase" and a "nominal" hike considering the "dignity of the office of judiciary".

After the parliament approved the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2008, law minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj had said that the services of judges should not be measured in terms of the pay they get.