Illegal flag posts, banners case: Kerala HC asks state govt not to play hide and seek
Oct 17, 2022
Kochi (Kerala) [India], October 17 : Kerala High Court on Monday told the State Government not to play 'hide and seek' with the court while hearing a case regarding the putting up of illegal flag posts, boards and banners.
Court also asked the state government to make its stand clear on whether they want to pass a resolution regarding the issue.
Single Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran said, "If the state government feels that this Court should not proceed further and that matters should be as it was four years ago, then we should eschew claims of creating a new Kerala and be happy with the status quo. It would not give me any pleasure to run behind my orders to have them implemented from time to time. The Court was powerless as its orders were not being implemented. When the Court directs that its orders are to be implemented, the judges are criticised and called activists. Such directions are branded as 'judicial activism."
The Court further observed that if political parties themselves displayed their boards and flags 'with impunity', others will certainly be persuaded to follow.
"You say this is democracy. It is not democracy to peril another man's life. the boards and posts raised by the entities along the sidewalks were of danger to the traffic and pedestrians. The secretaries of local self-governments were powerless to remove the same since these were vested in the NHAI and no support was received from the police either. Until the present, it had been acting with great circumspection, however to no avail. Punitive actions may have to be taken if its orders were to have any meaning," the court further observed.
The matter has been posted again for October 19.
