The Kerala High Court has recently stated while directing the government to immediately remove every illegal bill board erected in public spaces of the state, “It is the right of a citizen to have a pleasing environment and any action by perpetrators to defy this for selfish and vested reasons must attract sufficient penalties.”
In an order issued on October 31, Justice Devan Ramachandran directed to impose Rs 5,000 per illegal bill board in addition to the expenses for its removal and initiate prosecution of wrong doers.
The court said even though it gave sufficient leeway and time for removal of the bill boards by the persons who installed them, the factum of them still continuing on the streets would clearly show lack of respect for law by these persons.
The court gave 7 days ”to enable every person who has installed the boards illegally to remove them voluntarily and on their own volition, so as to avert the rigor of penalty and prosecution, if they are so interested.” The court constituted committees at various levels to tackle the menace of such illegal structures and it was reported that several thousands of bill boards have been removed recently.
Justice Ramachandran in his order directed the committees ”to immediately remove every board installed in violation of the orders of this Court from across the State, imposing the maximum penalty of Rs.5,000/- per board on each of them, in addition to the expenses for its removal and initiation of prosecution.”
The court noted that if the penalty was imposed on the unauthorized bill boards as per the law, the State could have benefited by crores of rupees.
The order read, ”When our State is going through stated financial constraints — which is evident from various other cases that come to the notice of this court — one fails to understand how this source of revenue can be given up, particularly when thousands of boards have been removed on regular basis; and going by the statistics furnished in this case from its inception, the number of boards already removed would perhaps be running into several lakhs.”
The court also directed that FIRs be filed against those who have created/erected such illegal boards and every other individual involved.
