Ten days for political parties to remove illegal flag masts: Kerala High Court

Political parties and other organisations who have put up flag masts without authorisation at public places should voluntarily remove the same within ten days failing which penalties will be imposed, the Kerala High Court said on Monday (The Manam Sugar Mills Co-operative Ltd. v. Deputy Superintendent of Police)..Single-judge Justice Devan Ramachandran directed the State Government to widely publicise the order of the Court which stated that those who flout the law should be given maximum punishment under the Land Conservancy Act."As far as the flag posts already on the streets are concerned, I'm certain that action should be taken under every applicable law including the Land Conservancy Act and the perpetrators meted with the maximum punishments under it, including by way of penalties, unless they remove flag posts on their own and without official action being initiated by next posting date. These directions shall be given due publicity by the government and those entities or individuals who are desirous of acting as per law can obtain one opportunity of removing the illegal structures on their own without the might of law being brought against them in due course. ".The Court issued the order on a petition filed by a property owner who approached the Court through advocate RT Pradeep seeking police protection to remove flag posts that were allegedly put up on his property by political parties.Apart from the case of the specific property owner, the Court had decided that the larger issue of such installations at other places must also obtain the attention of the competent authorities.It had accordingly pulled up the State government for allowing to continue the practice of political parties putting up flag masts wherever they choose to without any consequences. During the previous hearing, the Court had ordered an audit of all existing illegal flag posts across the state.Today, Government Pleader (GP) S Kannan filed a memo enclosing a report from the Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department, which stated that Kerala has at least 42,337 flag masts on its roads.However, the report did not specify which of those were illegal and which were authorised. To this the Court said "Going by the inputs available to this court, I will not be surprised if none of them have obtained any permission under the statutes and I dare say this because, if that be so, none of them could have been installed at the places where they are presently found namely, on road margins and even on pedestrian paths."The Court also opined that report definitely showed a very conservative, albeit "mind-boggling" figure, which will also grow with more exhaustive evaluation.Justice Ramachandran also underscored the seriousness of the issue by orally remarking, "They dig up tarred roads and put these posts. Everyone is scared to do anything about it, the public and even the police, all because there is some political force behind it.".The GP assured the Court that the government is looking into the issue very seriously and the action which it propose with respect to illegal flag masts will be placed before the court in the next ten days as the cabinet has not been able to assemble because of ongoing legislative assembly proceedings.The Court acceded to the GP's request but extended its previous interim order by which it had directed authorities to ensure that no more such flag posts are allowed to be erected without the requisite authorisation.The matter will be taken up next on November 25.[Read Order]