This is an amazing story. The Airports Authority, a central government entity, is actually going to court to enjoin the local governments from licensing hoardings near Chennai airport. It is amazing that these hoardings were permitted in the first place. It is outrageous that the local governments pay no heed to the Airports Authority’s caution about these dangerous. I hope the High Court acts promptly on this petition.

As a constitutional-law footnote it is interesting that the Airports Authority takes the role of a writ petitioner in this case. Twenty years ago, it took a Supreme Court decision to confirm that a writ petition could be maintained against the Authority, as a defendant. That decision, Ramana Shetty v. International Airport Authority of India, (1979) 3 SCC 489, is an important milestone in our constitutional jurisprudence.