Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked a hoarding contractor to file his reply as to why an undertaking he had given to maintain status quo in the face of complaints from the petitioner against constructing hoardings at Juhu Beach was not fulfilled.
The petitioner Palm Grove Beach hotel had filed a writ petition against Guju Ads as their hoardings were obstructing the view of the hotel. The petition has been filed under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act and has also made the BMC and the Airport Authority of India as party as the land belongs to the AAI and the BMC is the regulatory authority.
On Thursday when the matter came up for hearing in front of a division bench of justices B R Gavai and Manish Pitale, the advocate for Palm Grove informed the court that despite the undertaking given by Guju Ads to maintain status quo on November 30, work on erecting the hoardings still continued and hence sought directions against the hoarding contractor as they had violated court orders.
According to court sources in the first hearing the contractor had given an undertaking to maintain status quo after the advocate for the hotel submitted that the hoardings were obstructing the hotel’s view.
After hearing the complaint of the hotel, the bench asked as to what they expected from the court to which the advocate sought directions to the police to take action against the contractor for not following court orders. The court however, asked the contractor to file his reply and placed the matter for hearing next week.
Meanwhile, Selvel Publicity and Consultants also filed a writ petition against Guju Ads through advocate Kiran Jain praying for removal of the hoardings as they were without permission from the BMC and RTO.
