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Journalism of Courage
THE BOMBAY High Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to take steps as per recommendations of the nodal committee constituted to look into the issue of illegal hoardings, which included amendment in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act to impose stricter penalties for illegal hoardings in line with the Motor Vehicle Act.
The court also told the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that unauthorised hoardings or banners put up by political parties without permission could be pulled down ahead of elections. However, it clarified that the civic body should not remove all hoardings indiscriminately as that would violate code of conduct for polls.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Makarand S Karnik was hearing pleas, including a contempt plea initiated by the HC itself, claiming non-compliance with its 2017 orders to pull down illegal hoardings.
Additional Government Pleader Bhupesh Samant told the bench that the nodal committee conducted its meeting on Wednesday and discussed the suggestions submitted by the petitioners and their lawyers to deal with the illegal hoardings. He said that the panel short-listed five recommendations and forwarded the same to the government for further steps.
The panel also forwarded recommendations to government pertaining to designated places to put up hoardings and banners, central database to be maintained by local bodies for real time updates about approvals granted for putting up hoardings, QR code on hoardings to feature details of the printer, the name of the customer commissioning such printing, permission number given by the municipal or revenue authority, and the number of copies etc.
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