Jabalpur, Mar 4 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the state and others to remove the statue of former chief minister late Arjun Singh in Bhopal as well as other statues at public utility places that were installed on January 18, 2013 or after.

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The HC also imposed a cost of Rs 30,000 on the state and others and directed that statues should not be installed in such places henceforth.

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“The respondents, including Municipal Corporation, Bhopal to forthwith remove the statue of Late Shri Arjun Singh, former Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh from Major Nanke Petrol Pump Tri-junction (Link Road No.1, T.T. Nagar, Bhopal), including platform," the order by a division bench of Justices Sheel Nagu and PK Kaurav said.

"The state is directed by a writ of mandamus to remove all statues erected on public roads, pavements, sideways and any other public utility place at any village, town or city situated within MP, which had been erected on or after 18.01.2013 (the date of restraint order passed by the Apex Court in SLP (C) 8519/2006 (Union of India Vs State of Gujarat and others)," it added.

The respondents are, henceforth, restrained by way of writ of prohibition from installing any statue on public roads, pavements, sideways and any other public utility place situated in any village, town or city in the state, the HC said.

It imposed a cost of Rs 30,000 on the respondents, which included chief secretary, principal secretary (local self government) Urban Administration and Development Department, the district magistrate and superintendent of police of Bhopal.

It said Rs 10,000 from this amount must be paid to the petitioner through digital transfer, while the remaining Rs 20,000 must be deposited with the High Court Legal Aid Committee, Jabalpur, for wasting the precious time of this Ccourt in dealing with this avoidable piece of litigation.

The HC bench observed that the "state and corporation need to be reminded that they ought not to equate themselves as individual litigants in an adversarial litigation especially when defending a PIL".

The court praised the PIL and said the petitioner was doing what the state ought to have done, and pulled up the respondent/corporation for "leaving no stone unturned to "malign the petitioner and belittling the genuine public cause raised herein”.

The court had allowed a PIL, filed by advocate Greeshm Jain, challenging the installation of 10-foot tall statue of former chief minister late Arjun Singh at Major Nanke Petrol Pump Tri-Junction (Link Road No.1 TT Nagar Bhopal) for obstructing free flow of traffic.

The judgment was passed on March 3 but the order was made available online on Friday, Satish Verma, the petitioner's counsel, said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)