TN govt seeks HC nod for banners welcoming Modi, Xi for meet

The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday sought the Madras High Court's permission to erect banners welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who are slated to meet at Mamallapuram, nearly 60 km from here.

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee said the petition by commissioner of municipal administration on behalf of the government would be taken up for hearing on Thursday.

Pointing to authorities not giving permission for banners throughout the state, the petitioner said Modi and Jinping would be holding bilateral talks in the tourist town on October 11 and 12.

It was, however, customary on the part of the Ministry of External Affairs to welcome a visiting dignitary by way of banners.

Stating that the state and the central governments proposed to put up the banners at designated places to welcome the top dignitaries, the petitioner-official asked the court to pass suitable orders on the proposal.

The high court had earlier banned erection of hoardings on roadsides and recently pulled up the government for not effectively implementing its order in the wake of the death of a woman techie.

The 23-year-old woman riding a two-wheeler was run over by a tanker after a hoarding crashed on her in a city suburb.

Following an outrage over the incident, political parties asked their respective cadre to stop erecting hoardings and banners.