The Kerala High Court on Monday orally observed that every flag pole installed without permission was illegal and could not be disregarded just because it was done by powerful people or political parties.
Justice Devan Ramachandran while dealing with a petition seeking to remove the flag poles from the premises of the Mannam Sugar Mills, Pandalam, observed that there could not be two sets of laws — one for the powerful and one for the ordinary citizens.
State stance
The court orally observed that it was "worrying" that the State government was unable to promise that no new illegal flag pole would be set up in future. It added that instead of supporting an initiative started by the High Court, the State government was doing nothing.
The government sought more time to come up with a policy on regulating the installation of flag poles in public places, as it wanted to take all stakeholders on board before evolving a policy.
The court had earlier ordered that no flag pole be allowed to be erected in the State till the government evolved a policy in this regard.
