File responses to PILs on illegal hoardings, Karnataka HC tells BBMP

On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to file a proper and comprehensive response to the PILs pertaining to increasing number of illegal hoardings and flex banners in Bengaluru, as reported by the Times of India. 

A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit gave this direction after senior advocate Prof Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared for

one of the petitioners, submitted that the civic body has so far failed to file a response to earlier directions issued by the court.

He submitted that though there is a provision for putting up commercial hoardings subject to BBMP’s prior permission and on payment of requisite fee, for reasons best known to it, the civic agency has been unable to place before the court details of the same. “This aspect requires serious consideration. There can’t be any dispute that the mushrooming of hoardings will not only cause serious disturbance in free traffic movement, but also will result in loss of revenue” said Prof Kumar. 

The bench has granted the municipal body three weeks’ time to file a detailed response to the PILs and no adjournment will be allowed for the same. The next hearing will take place on October 11^th. 

These are small steps towards the revival of the Bangalore OOH market which is rather dull compared to cities like Delhi and Mumbai since the 2018 Bylaws were passed that restricted the use of outdoor advertising in the city. Earlier this year in March, the High Court had ruled that a certain clause of the bylaw was unconstitutional and ordered it to be removed.