Dereliction Of Duty: Kerala High Court Criticises Govt Authorities' Failure To Remove Unauthorised Billboards, Levy Fines From Offenders

The Kerala High Court has taken stern exception to the failure of the authorities to remove unauthorised billboards in the city despite court orders.

A single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran lamented that in spite of court orders, the concerned authorities were not taking action against unauthorized billboards. The Court noted that the authorities by not collecting the requisite fine was causing loss to the exchequer.

“How do I tell people to obey law when the people in power don't do it?” the Court remarked.

The Court noted the importance of removing these boards. Justice Ramachandran remembered that during floods, boat owners told him that if the orders were not passed, the boards would have caused difficulty in navigating their boats. He said that he has been dealing with this matter for almost 6 years now, and it is the administration's failure that they couldn't achieve a breakthrough.

The Court had ordered the removal of unauthorized boards, banners and flags and has been monitoring the actions taken by the authorities on this. A committee was set up to remove these unauthorized boards as well.

The Court noted in its order that the refusal of the authorities to remove unauthorized boards and collect fines of Rs. 5000 per board is a dereliction of duty and causes loss to the government exchequer and that the Government has also issued circulars to remove the unauthorized boards.

If the orders of the court and government were still not obeyed, the Court said it would hold each individual secretary to local government institutions liable, since if they had already removed the boards and fined the concerned persons, the proclivity to repeat the offences would have come down.

The amicus curie, Adv. Harish Vasudevan informed the Court that the police refused to register an FIR when the matter was brought to their notice. The Court thereafter noted that any board without the information of the printer printed on it would be considered illegal and police would have to act on it.

It observed that these boards were a public safety threat on account of the various instances of traffic accidents happening due to them falling onto the road. The court thus directed that if the authorities find any difficulty in removing the boards and collecting a fine, they can inform the court through the Government pleader or amicus curie.

Case Title: St. Stephen's Malankara Catholic Church v State of Kerala and Others

Case No: WP(C) No. 22750/ 2018