‘Ensure illegal hoardings are pulled down in 48 hrs’
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to serve notice on all agencies concerned for dismantling the illegal hoardings erected by them in 48 hours.
The bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya also directed that in case the agencies concerned don’t remove the illegal hoardings or advertisements, the BMC will have to do it themselves and recover the cost from those advertisers.
The court further directed that BMC shall exercise the powers conferred by the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act 2006 and initiate prosecution, as well as under West Bengal Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 1974.
Apart from removal of hoardings, the BMC is at liberty to initiate proceedings against advertisement agencies who have erected the hoardings without prior permission for recovery of the licence fee payable, the court said. The entire process has to be completed by December 17 and a report is to be filed on December 19.
The bench observed: “We fail to understand why the BMC has not taken any effective steps against the unauthorised hoardings and advertisements and has adopted a circuitous process without exercising their powers under the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act 2006.”
On perusing the report submitted by the state, the court was surprised to find that 351 advertisers have erected hoardings but only two agencies are regularly paying the required licence fee to BMC. The remaining agencies/persons took no permission for the hoardings nor are they paying the licence fees.
The state report revealed that a committee has been formed for regulating the erection of hoardings and advertisements. Apart from this, tenders were floated calling for agencies for dismantling the illegally erected hoardings.
The petition heard by the bench alleged gross illegalities in the erection and display of advertisement hoardings in Bidhannagar. It alleged that despite official records indicating only 130 billboards, the actual number exceeds 2,000, most of which are illegal and untaxed since 2018-19. This resulted in significant revenue loss and public safety concerns due to unauthorized structures.
