BBMP is the No. 1 enemy of Bengaluru: Karnataka high court slams civic body

The BBMP Chief Commissioner had a meeting with Zonal and Joint Commissioners and issued instructions to follow the HC orders.

The Karnataka High Court schooled the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic body. for not being able to deal with the illegal hoardings and billboards in the city. The court called the civic body the ‘Number 1 enemy’ of the people of Bengaluru.

BBMP has encountered 134 complaints related to unlawful hoardings since the HC order.

According to reports, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit ordered a comprehensive survey of all illegal hoardings erected in Bengaluru to count the number of such billboards that lack the proper permissions from the civic body. The court further ordered the civic body to submit the survey report in 28 days.

“The illegal hoardings are a loss of revenue for the civic body and BBMP will end up covering the losses again from the citizens of Bengaluru. BBMP is the number 1 enemy for people of Bengaluru,” said the division bench. The high court also highlighted that the hoardings at random locations are affecting the aesthetic sense of Bengaluru and lack of revenue through them is pushing BBMP into a critical financial deficit.

According to the compliance report filed by the BBMP before the court, the Special Commissioner (Revenue) chaired a meeting with all officers concerned on September 2 and gave directions to book FIRs as directed by the high court and report on the removal of unauthorized hoardings. On September 20, the Chief Commissioner had a meeting with Zonal and Joint Commissioners and issued instructions to follow the HC orders.

As part of the action plan, in the first phase, the arterial and sub-arterial roads were surveyed to identify and remove illegal structures/ hoardings.