Madras High Court directs T.N. to list steps taken to prevent illegal erection of flex boards, banners

Madras HC directs TN govt to file affidavit on steps taken to prevent illegal flex boards, festoons, buntings, hoardings, cut-outs, which can cause mishaps. Petitioner's counsel claims minor died while erecting DMK flagpoles. HC insists on strict enforcement of rules to prevent illegal installations.

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file an affidavit by November 7, listing the steps it has taken so far to prevent the erection of illegal flex boards, festoons, buntings, hoardings, cut-outs and the like, which, at times, cause mishaps, leading to loss of lives on public roads.

Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy recorded the submission of State Government Pleader P. Muthukumar that such an affidavit would be filed in the court within a month. The judges said they expected similar affidavits from the local bodies concerned too.

The interim order was passed during the hearing of a batch of cases filed by activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy (since deceased) alleging official inaction against illegal flexboards, and also a petition filed in 2021 regarding the electrocution of a 13-year-old boy during the erecting of DMK flagpoles in Villupuram.

The petitioner’s counsel S. Sheik Ismail claimed the minor boy had died while erecting iron flagpoles to welcome Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy for a wedding that a DMK cadre’s family was celebrating. However, senior counsel R. Viduthulai, representing Mr. Ponmudy said the Minister did not attend the event.

On his part, advocate K. Arvind, who was earlier representing Mr. Ramaswamy, sought some time to substitute another petitioner in the place of the activist who had died in May 2021. The judges accepted his request and adjourned the hearing on the batch of cases by a month but insisted on an affidavit from the government.

The Chief Justice said, preventing illegal flex boards from being erected was more important than taking action against the violators after the reporting of mishaps. He wanted to know the modalities that had been put in place by the State as well as the local bodies to prevent such illegal installations. He also insisted on the strict enforcement of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Permission for Erection of Digital Banners and Placards) Rules, 2011, during the granting of permission to erect flex boards and the like in public places.