The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council office.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the state government and the BBMP that the proposed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Advertisement) Bye-Laws, 2024, shall not be notified without its approval.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind passed this order after being informed that the bye-laws are at the stage of consideration of the objections, which have already been submitted by the stakeholders, including petitioners in PIL petitions and the general public.
The court was hearing a batch of PIL petitions seeking directions to monitor and regulate advertisement hoardings and flex boards in Bengaluru.
The Additional Advocate General (AAG) submitted that the notification shall be brought into force once approved by the state government. The bench posted the matter to November 8 for further consideration.
"Since the court is seized with the matter of the present PIL relating to the monitoring and regulation of hoardings, flexes which are being put up in the city of Bengaluru, it is directed that the aforesaid regulations shall not be notified without the first being produced on the record of the present proceedings and approved by the court," the bench said.
In the previous hearing, the court was informed that the proposed by-laws will have their own regulatory and preventive effects to curb the activities of illegal flex boards and advertisements.
The BBMP chief commissioner had filed an affidavit informing the court that a total of 9,761 illegal flex boards/banners/LEDs/hoardings have been removed and FIRs have been registered in 154 cases across all the zones. A penalty to the tune of Rs 3,09,400 has been imposed in these cases, the affidavit said.