Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be visiting the southern tourist town of Mamallapuram on 11 and 12 October for bilateral talks.
A two-judge division bench of the Madras High Court hearing a petition on the issue on Thursday said permission was not really required to erect flex boards along a 60-km stretch of road between Tamil Nadu’s capital city of Chennai and Mamallapuram town.
It clarified that its earlier stricture to ban the installation of banners and flex boards along public thoroughfares was meant for political parties and not the Central Government.
The Chennai Municipal Corporation had filed the petition on the state government’s behalf. It argued that banners have always been used to welcome a visiting dignitary.
The High Court had earlier banned the erection of hoardings on roadsides after 23-year-old software engineer Subashree was run over by a lorry after a hoarding fell on her. It happened when she was riding her two-wheeler in September.
Her death caused outrage in Chennai, leading the Madras High Court to issue orders to the state government to take disciplinary action against anyone illegally putting up hoardings or flex boards.
