Taking a stern view of gram panchayats granting permissions to put up giant hoardings despite not having any such powers, the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to take “ serious cognisance” of the same. The high court has asked the government to issue circulars to all gram panchayats asking them to refrain from granting such permissions, and if any panchayat is found violating the same, the government “must also consider initiating appropriate action”.
The issue of gram panchayats granting permissions came to light after Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) issued notices to several hoarding owners asking them to pull down giant hoardings in Navi Mumbai, in the aftermath of Ghatkopar hoarding collapse in May. Amid rains and strong winds, the giant billboard in Ghatkopar collapsed on May 13, killing 17 people and injuring more than 70. This prompted the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other authorities to conduct surveys in their jurisdictions and take action against such hoardings.
Following notices from the MSRDC and CIDCO, several hoarding owners approached the HC in May seeking quashing of these notices claiming that they had necessary permission from respective gram panchayats.
The high court had refused to grant any relief and allowed the planning authorities to undertake demolition of illegal giant hoardings after the owners and advertising agencies failed to remove the same as per undertaking given to the HC on May 30. They had agreed to pull down the hoardings by August end.
The HC, on August 21, while hearing a petition by Yash Raj Multimedia Pvt Ltd against such demolition notice, took note of the owners too putting up hoardings despite being aware that gram panchayats have no powers to grant permission.
“We find that Gram Panchayats, without any authority of law, have been granting permissions to put up hoardings. With full knowledge that Panchayats have no authority to grant such permissions, parties are putting up the hoardings based upon such permissions. Most of the time, the relevant planning authorities fail to take any action for reasons best known to them,” a bench of Justices MS Sonak and Kamal Khata said.
It then noted: “Accordingly, it is high time that the State Government took serious cognisance of Gram Panchayats granting such permission despite full knowledge that they have no powers to do so. The State Government, through its secretary (Panchayats), must consider issuing circulars to the concerned Panchayats to stop indulging in such misadventures. If it is found that the Panchayats persist in such misadventures, the State Government must also consider initiating appropriate action against such Panchayats in terms of the law.”
Yash Raj Multimedia’s advocate Adil Parsurampuria informed the bench that they will pull down the hoarding by September 11. When the court expressed it would impose cost, the petitioner agreed to pay Rs50,000 to the Tata Cancer Memorial Trust within four weeks.
The court has asked MSRDC to consider the petitioner’s application, if filed, for putting up a hoarding in accordance with law.
