HC order hoarding ban in Bengaluru set aside

The High Court of Karnataka has set aside an order passed by a single bench on a petition against the one-year ban on advertisement hoardings in the city.

The single judge had ruled that the petition must be heard by a division bench after disposing of PIL petitions for removing unauthorised flex hoardings.

A division bench headed by Justice H G Ramesh set aside this ruling on Tuesday while hearing a writ appeal filed by Brite Advertisers against the ban. The advertising agency argued that the BBMP notification banning hoardings virtually takes away their bread and butter. At stake is the livelihood of over 60,000 people, it said and pointed out that hoardings were installed in accordance with advertisement bylaws. The agency further said it put up advertisement hoardings only twice a year: during Ganesha Chaturthi and Deepavali.