Kochi: The Kerala High Court has ordered the state government to remove all advertisement boards, including flex boards, erected on public places without the permission of the respective local bodies.
Justice Devan Ramachandran directed the Local Self-Government Principal Secretary to issue necessary orders or circulars or directives to all local self-government institutions to ensure that all illegally erected advertisement boards were removed immediately and that such boards were not allowed to occupy public places.
The court observed that when local bodies permitted such boards to be erected in future, it should be ensured that the boards were erected in specific places or spaces suitable for the erection.
The court issued the directives when a writ petition seeking a directive to ban such advertisement boards from public places came up for hearing.
In an affidavit, the State government had submitted that the boards installed without the permission of the respective local bodies were illegal. It was causing inconvenience to the public and impeding the free flow of traffic.