‘Clear all hoardings within 24hrs’

Toughening its stand on illegal hoardings mushrooming across the state, the Bombay HC on Wednesday directed all civic bodies and district councils to remove illegal hoardings in their jurisdiction, within a day. A division bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice A.P. Bhangale was hearing a suo-moto PIL asking the concerned authorities to remove illegal hoardings. The advocate representing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), S.M. Modale, had sought time to file an affidavit. The court then reprimanded the civic body, asking it to remove the hoardings instead of filing an affidavit. “We have not asked for an affidavit. We want you (BMC) to take action and then inform us about it. The city is being defaced due to hoardings and a majority of them belong to political parties,” said the bench. The court also cited the example of the Satara civic body. In the hearing of a PIL seeking ban on hoardings across Satara, the court had asked the Satara civic body to remove all illegal hoardings in the region. The Satara civic body had then filed a compliance report stating that following the court’s order, it had cleared illegal hoardings across the Satara region within a week. “If Satara Municipal Corporation can do it in a week, the BMC with all its infrastructure should be in a position to do it within 24 hours,” the bench remarked on Wednesday. The court also observed that the municipal commissioner is a co-conspirator as he had failed to take any action on the same. Directing the civic bodies to remove hoardings, the court then asked the civic bodies to issue notices to all persons, who are featured in the banners. The bench has also directed the civic bodies of Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Navi Mumbai and Mira Bhayander to file a compliance report on March 15.