The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove new hoardings in public and private places in the state.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove new hoardings in public and private places in the state.
Earlier, the apex court had directed the government to maintain status quo on removal of hoardings in public and private places in the state.
A bench headed by Justice H K Sema on Tuesday directed the state government to "demolish" any new hoarding that had been erected subsequent to the status quo order of September 2006.
The order was passed on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Licensing of Hoardings and Levy and Collection of Advertisement Tax Rules, 2003, which imposed restrictions on hoardings.
Tamil Nadu Private Sites Hoarding Owners Association and others had moved the court alleging coercive steps were being taken by the state government to demolish its hoardings in public and private places. They had also sought setting aside of the Madras High Court order which dismissed its petition and upheld the 2003 rules.
The High Court order had come on a public interest litigation alleging that all political parties in and around Chennai had erected innumerable hoardings in total disregard of stipulations and specifications. The PIL had also sought removal of unauthorised hoardings erected by political parties in and around Chennai.
According to the petitions, the impugned rules were introduced without following fair procedure of calling for objections from aggrieved parties and the same were unconstitutional and liable to be struck down.
The petitioners before the apex had argued that the impugned Rules were treating hoardings at private sites and in public places as equal, thereby treating unequal as equals, which violate its fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The petitions further submitted that the rate of advertisement tax, which was virtually more than the revenue a hoarding can generate, was totally impractical and was as good as putting a virtual ban on hoardings in private places.
The association members had entered into long leases with property owners and erected hoardings after paying huge deposits and rental advances, they said, adding the imposition of impugned rules would cause irreparable loss and affect their livelihoods.
Acting on the High Court's directions to regulate the advertisement hoardings, the Tamil Nadu government had amended the Chennai Muncipal Corporation Act to regulate the advertisement hoardings erected on roads, pavements, government offices, river and canal banks etc.
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