HC raps political parties over illegal hoardings

The division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Amit Borkar also pulled up the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies in Maharashtra over their failure to prevent the installation of illegal hoardings

MUMBAI: Taking strong exception to photographs depicting the mushrooming of illegal hoardings by political parties in the vicinity of the high court complex, the Bombay high court on Thursday issued notices to political parties, directing them to show cause as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for defiance of court orders.

HC raps political parties over illegal hoardings

The division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Amit Borkar also pulled up the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies in Maharashtra over their failure to prevent the installation of illegal hoardings and directed the urban development department to convene a meeting urgently and take punitive action against violators.

Referring to its January 2017 order, where detailed directions were issued to municipal corporations, ward officers and commissioners of police to curb the menace of illegal hoardings installed by political parties and their workers, the court said, “Seven years have passed since the earlier judgment was issued and today, we are still in a situation where illegal and unauthorised hoardings are damaging and defacing the streets and the roads and endangering the pedestrians. Why no action has been taken yet?”

Advocate general Birendra Saraf, representing the state, told the court that the number of illegal hoardings that were being erected were far greater than those removed by various authorities. “Over a lakh hoardings have been removed by authorities, but they mushroom every night,” he said.

In response, the court said the efforts were clearly inadequate. “This is a very sad situation. We are only cautioning the authorities for now; do not push us to issue summons to the authorities for violating the provisions of the earlier judgment,” the court said, directing civic bodies across the state to revisit standard operating procedures and policy decisions with regard to directions issued in the January 2017 order within two weeks.

The court also instructed the urban development department to convene a meeting with various departments, conduct regular checks for illegal and unauthorised hoardings and take punitive action against violators. District collectors and the police department were made responsible for extending full cooperation whenever required.

“If we find any deficiency, we may be compelled to issue notices to the executive heads of the concerned departments,” the court said, scheduling the next hearing for January 27.