Kerala High Court bars unauthorised new permanent or temporary flagpoles in the state

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has ordered that no new permanent or temporary flagpoles or masts will be allowed to be erected by anyone in public spaces of the state without the requisite permissions under the law from competent authorities.

While issuing the direction, the High Court also noted that the state government has not come out with a policy to remove flagpoles illegally installed in the past despite promising to do so back in 2022.

Justice Devan Ramachandran said it was obvious that the government was "procrastinating" with regard to formulation of a policy because all the illegal flagpoles or masts were "put up by entities, like political parties, trade unions, etc."

The court also noted that the government on several occasions in the past had assured that no unauthorised and illegal flag masts will be permitted to be put up in the future.

"Since the government has, through the various orders on record, made unequivocal undertakings that no new permanent flag masts/poles will be allowed on any part of the public spaces of the state without specific permissions being granted by, or obtained from the competent authorities, I am certain that this court will be justified in recording the same," Justice Ramachandran said in his order on February 20.

After recording the assurances given by the government in court on several dates, the High Court ordered that "no new permanent or temporary flag masts/poles will be allowed to be erected by any person/entity in any public space of the state, or in any 'poramboke' area; or in the road margins... without having obtained the requisite and necessary permissions/clearances/concessions from the competent authorities/officials under the various applicable statutes, including the Land Conservancy Act, the Panchayat Raj Act, the Municipal Corporations Act and such others."

It also recorded an undertaking given by the Additional Advocate General that a policy was being brought out to remove the illegal flag masts/poles which have been installed in the past and that this will be done at the earliest, but not later than six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment.

The court also directed the Secretary of the Local Self Government Department to issue a circular to all local bodies and other concerned entities informing them of the directions and ordering that they be complied with, implicitly.

"This shall be done within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment," the court said.

It also directed the Secretary of the Local Self Government Department to file an Action Taken Report, "containing the steps pursued or completed, along with the circular in terms of the above directions, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the copy of this judgment".

With these directions the court disposed of a plea filed by a company called Mannam Sugar Mill seeking police protection to remove the flagpoles of political parties at the entrance of Mannam Ayurveda Co-operative Medical College in Pandalam area of Pathanamthitta district.