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Directing to remove the statue of former Chief Minister Arjun Singh at Nanke crossroads near TT Nagar in Bhopal, the Madhya Pradesh High Court came down heavily upon the State government and its functionaries for their shifting stand in the matter. 

The bench of Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav noted that in this Public Interest Litigation, the state authorities in 2019 submitted a report stating that installation of the statue was not obstructing free-flow of the traffic, however, within 6-7 months, the mind and opinion of the State functionaries took a U-turn.

Court observed that the shifting stands taken by the functionaries of the State and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation was to mislead the Court and "the sudden change of mindset was not motivated by the reason of increase in flow of traffic but by extraneous considerations."

Therefore, Court also imposed a fine of 30 thousand rupees on the officers of Bhopal Municipal Corporation and the state government.

Advocate Greeshm Jain had filed this PIL alleging that the 10 feet tall statue of the former CM at a tri-section was being an obstruction to free-flow of traffic and also its erection was in violation of direction of the Apex Court.

Agreeing with Jain's claims, Court further issued an order to remove all statues erected on public roads, pavements, sideways and any other public utility place after 2013 across the state.

The Supreme Court in Union of India Vs. State of Gujrat and others in 2013 had passed an interim order directing all the State Governments to not grant any permission for installation of any statue or construction of any structure in public roads, pavements, sideways and other public utility places. The matter is still pending in court.

Jain's PIL was in opposition to the installation of the life-sized statue of Congress veteran late Arjun Singh at a busy trisection in Bhopal where the bust of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad had existed earlier. In 2016 the statue of Azad, along with those of the late former President Shankar Dayal Sharma and Maharaja Agrasen, were removed from different places around the city, citing traffic management as the reason.

Case Title: Greeshm Jain v. State of Madhya Pradesh