Constitute Committees To Check Unauthorised Use Of Banners And Boards In Public Places: Kerala High Court To State

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered setting up of committees at the level of every Local-Self Government Institution to tackle the issue of putting of illegal boards and banners in the state.

Directing the Local Self Department's Secretary to issue immediate orders, Justice Devan Ramachandran ordered that the primary committees shall comprise of the following:

- Secretary of the Local Self -Government Institution

- Station House Officer (SHO) of the Police Station concerned

- Competent official of the National Highway Authority of India

- Competent engineer of the PWD

The court also ordered constituting of the District Monitoring Committee for supervising the functioning of LSGI-level committees. The District Joint Director of the Local Self Government Institution, the Executive Engineer of the PWD, the District Police Chief or Deputy District Police Chief and Project Director or competent equivalent authority of the NHAI will be its members.

The LSGI-level committees have been entrusted with a duty to survey the territory under them at least every two weeks and remove every illegal board and banner. Directing that the illegal boards and banners be returned to the person who placed it, the court said that necessary FIRs be registered not in the name of the entities "but in the name of persons behind it."

The court also ordered removal of every illegal flag, board and banner on the streets which are in violation of the judicial orders, adding that the same be done without waiting for formal constitution of the committees.

During the course of the hearing on Wednesday, the Secretaries of Kalamassery and Aluva Municipalities confessed that they were "scared of political pressure, muscle power and other influences" and the same prevents them from implementing judicial orders on removal of the unauthorised boards and flags.

Additional Advocate General Ashok Cheriyan, who was instructed by Advocate Shyam Prashant, submitted that every secretary of the Local Self Government Institution must act fearlessly and without favour, adding that the concerned police authority would provide full support.

SHOs of Aluva and Kalamassery, who also appeared before the Court, submitted that the Police department will act in accordance with the directions of the court.

The court observed, "We are at the vagaries of nature and which makes it important for us to be aware of the deleterious consequences of actions such as placing of boards and banners thoughtlessly without mind to the manner in which it has to be disposed of."

Continuing, it added: "This is rather incredulous in the modern time when countries around the world are finding out novel solutions for waste disposal, but in our state, certain persons and entities and adding to the load for self-propagation and self-advertisement, and they're apparently being able to do so without punity, remarked the Court."

Instead of making the Secretaries of Local Self-Government Institutions alone responsible, the court said, they should be assisted by a squad containing the officials of Police, National Highway and the Authorities of the PWD.

The bench further said that since the secretaries of the Local Self-Government institutions confessed that they are fearful of the entities who place the boards, especially when they are political parties and trade unions; the setting up of the committees would help the court in having some control over them through the mechanism proposed.

The Court directed the committees to ensure that no new boards or flags are erected and that every person who does so is apprehended and brought to justice. Furthermore, it also ordered for the cancellation of the licence of the advertisement agency or entity which erects the banners or boards in violation of the previous orders passed by the Court.

The Court clarified that District Monitoring Committees shall be held liable for the failure of the respective local self-government level committees and the District Joint Director LSGI will be held personally liable.

The matter has been posted for further consideration on November 15.

Case Title: Case Title: St. Stephen's Malankara Catholic Chruch v. State of Kerala

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