Knock out illegal statues, else face action: HC to Telangana

HYDERABAD: Taking a serious note of indiscriminate installation of statues on main roads and other public areas, the Telangana High Court cautioned the state government and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) that contempt proceedings would be initiated against them if unauthorised statutes were not removed.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with a petition filed in 2010 by MA Mukeed, complaining about erection of statues on main roads without authorisation. He brought to the notice of the court that inaction of authorities allowing political parties to erect statues in the middle of the road was illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the GHMC Act, AP Municipalities Act and also in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

He requested the court to direct the concerned authorities to formulate guidelines for the same and hereafter to stop erection of statues on roadside margins and in the middle of roads, keeping the interest of public in view.
The case has been pending since then. When the case came up recently, though the bench closed the matter, the court took up the case suo-moto and asked the Telangana government and the GHMC why they were delaying the implementation of the Supreme Court directions issued in 2018, directing all governments to strictly remove erected statues on roadsides and public places.

The special counsel for the government submitted that the Telangana government had issued GO 2013 to prohibit erection of statues on the roads. Reacting to it, the bench asked why they did not remove any statue erected illegally since the GO was issued. The court said it would rectify the issue and questioned how many illegally erected statues were removed from that time. The court directed to file counter in this and adjourned the case to September 27.