On Tuesday high court petition on behalf of the AIADMK government said that it is customary for the Foreign Ministry to welcome a visiting dignitary by putting up banners.
Chennai: The government of Tamil Nadu has been given permission by the Madras High Court to put up banners to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping who are slated to hold an informal meet this month in Chennai.
The ruling comes amid outrage over the death of a 23-year-old software engineer named Subashree who was knocked down by an illegal hoarding put up by an AIADMK functionary and hit by a water tanker last month. Display of photographs and portraits of living persons in public places was banned by the Madras High Court in October 2017 following a series of tragedies that had led to the loss of lives.
Today while passing the order court made it clear that the banners put up should not cause “hardship for the public” and that the state has to follow all existing rules on the installation of such banners.
The state government was pulled up by the high court or not effectively implementing its order. Stung by the public anger, the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK had asked their workers to stop putting up hoardings and banners after the incident.
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On Tuesday high court petition on behalf of the AIADMK government on the commissioner of municipal in Chennai had said that it is customary for the Foreign Ministry to welcome a visiting dignitary by putting up banners.
The petitioner said the Foreign Ministry and the state government want to put up 30 banners at designated places to welcome the top dignitaries. PM Modi and Xi Jinping will hold their second informal meet from October 11 to13, at Mamallapuram, about 50 km from Chennai.
On Wednesday, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan requested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the “haphazard banner culture”. “While Tamil Nadu and Tamilians are struggling to cope up with the loss of Subashree’s death, the Tamil Nadu Government has approached the courts to obtain permission to erect your banners,” Mr. Haasan tweeted.
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