The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

116. Power  to erect  traffic signs.

1. The State Government or any authority authorised in this behalf by the State Government may cause or  permit traffic  signs to  be placed or erected in any public place for  the purpose  of bringing  to public notice any speed limits fixed under  sub-section (2)  of section  112 or  any prohibitions  or restrictions imposed under section 115 or generally for the purpose of regulating motor vehicle traffic.
2. A State Government or any authority authorised in this behalf by the  State Government  may, by notification in the Official Gazette or by  the erection at suitable places of the appropriate traffic sign referred to in Part A of the Schedule, designate certain roads as main roads for  the purposes of the driving regulations made by the Central Government.

2. Traffic signs placed or erected under sub-section (1) for any purpose for  which provision  is made  in the Schedule shall be of the size, colour  and type  and shall  have the  meanings set forth in the Schedule, but  the State Government or any authority empowered in this behalf by  the State  Government may make or authorise the addition to any sign  set forth  in the  said Schedule,  of transcriptions  of the words, letters  or  figures  thereon  in  such  script  as  the  State Government may think fit, provided that  the transcriptions  shall be of similar size and colour  to the words, letters or figures set forth in the Schedule.
3. Except as provided by sub-section (1), no traffic sign shall, after the  commencement of  this Act,  be placed or erected on or near any road;  but all  traffic signs  placed  or  erected  prior  to  the commencement of  this Act  by any  competent authority  shall for  the purpose of  this Act  be deemed  to be traffic signs placed or erected under the provisions of sub-section (1).
4. A  State Government  may, by  notification in  the  Official Gazette,  empower   any  police  officer  not  below  the  rank  of  a Superintendent of  Police to remove or cause to be removed any sign or advertisement which  is so  placed in  his opinion  as to  obscure any traffic sign  from view  or any  sign or advertisement which is in his opinion so similar in appearance to a traffic sign as to be misleading or which  in his  opinion is  likely  to  distract  the  attention  or concentration of the driver.
5. No person shall wilfully remove, alter, deface, or in any way tamper with, any traffic signs placed or erected under this section.
6. If  any person  accidentally causes  such damage to a traffic sign as  renders it  useless for the purpose for which it is placed or erected under  this section,  he shall report the circumstances of the occurrence to  a police  officer or  at a  police station  as soon  as possible, and in any case within twenty-four hours of the occurrence.
7. For  the purpose  of bringing  the signs  set  forth  in  the Schedule in  conformity with  any International Convention relating to motor traffic  to which the Central Government is for the time being a party, the  Central Government  may, by  notification in  the Official Gazette, make  any addition  or alteration to any such sign and on the issue of  any such  notification, the  Schedule shall  be deemed to be amended accordingly.

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