The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Union Government to strictly implement the ban on manufacture of national flags made from plastic. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been directed to take stringent measures against the use, distribution and sale of such plastic flags.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation seeking ban on plastic flags, and setting up of a mechanism for the disposal of flags. “At present, there is no mechanism to dispose the paper-made or plastic flags found in scores after the Independence day or Republic Day celebrations,” advocate Anand Patil, appearing on behalf of the petitioner NGO, argued.
The court thereafter directed the Maharashtra Government to make proper arrangements for the disposal of such flags. The tehsildars and the Collector offices will be the nodal agencies for the disposal of the national flags.
The court also directed the State Government to allow NGOs and other organisations to collect the flags and hand them over to the district Collector office or Tehsildar office.
The State has been directed to give wide publicity about its mechanism for the disposal of paper-made national flags. “All government, semi-government organisations shall be made aware of the facility for the collection of and disposal of paper-made flags,” the division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni said.
The State Government and the Central Government have been directed to file a compliance report to the court on the steps taken on the issue.
