JOIN USAd hoarding mafia at it again
Vacant land owners, beware. The advertisement hoarding mafia has been rearing its ugly head again in the City. Unauthorised ad hoardings can crop up on your plot any moment. And once erected, the land owners will have a tough time in getting them removed.
A case in point is No 81, Richmond Road, a prime property owned by the brother and four daughters of late Shakereh, grand daughter of former Diwan of the Princely State of Mysore, Sir Mirza Ismail. Shakereh’s second husband Swami Shraddhananda had burnt her to death and buried the body in the backyard of the house in 1991.
The property, the market value of which is estimated to be a whopping Rs 150 crore, was under dispute – between the developer, Rustumji Developments and the owners – for a long time over a joint development agreement. An Arbitral Tribunal settled the dispute in favour of the owners in April this year.
Owners of the property had hardly heaved a sigh of relief after winning the legal battle, when the hoarding mafia came to haunt them: two huge hoardings have come up on the property.
Some trees were allegedly axed to put up hoardings. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) higher-ups woke up only when the owners lodged a complaint. But the ad agency that had put up the hoardings has now managed to obtain a stay from court over the BBMP’s decision to remove them, BBMP Deputy Commissioner (Advertisement) Anees Siraj said.
According to Siraj, St Mary Ads had first put up hoardings unauthorisedly on the property. But the BBMP removed them. On January 5 this year, another ad agency, Alesh Collection and Mother Collection Advertisements, had filed an application with the BBMP seeking change of location for its ad hoardings from MG Road to No 81, Richmond Road.
The application was approved by the BBMP Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance on March 20, 2012, he added. The Deputy Commissioner said St Mary Ads on April 12, 2012 submitted an affidavit declaring that the property developer, Rustomji Developments, had no objection to it putting up two hoardings on the property. “The affidavit, however, does not have the signature of Rustomji. The ad firm again put up the hoardings. Subsequently, the BBMP removed them stating that the permission has been granted to Alesh Collections and not to St Mary Ads,” he added.
Again, Anees said, on June 12, 2012, Alesh Collections submitted an affidavit on behalf of Rustomji. “In this affidavit, Rustomji is referred to as the absolute owner of the property and that he is leasing out the property to the ad firm for the purpose of putting up hoardings… It is a clear case of fraud and misrepresentation of facts,” he stated.
He said steps are being taken to blacklist the firm, besides taking legal action. A show cause notice has been issued to the agency for submitting false affidavits. Based on the reply, further steps will be initiated, he added.
Sources said the Standing Committee has accorded permission to 82 other ad agencies in one go on the same date. Documents submitted by the ad firms are hardly verified before granting permission.