Ad agencies must pay for hoarding mess: HC

In what may come as a blow to advertising agencies installing unauthorised structures on private properties, the high court on Tuesday vacated an interim order passed in this regard.

In the interim order, the court had restricted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from taking precipitative action against the unauthorised structures.

On Tuesday, the court vacated the order while hearing a batch of petitions seeking quashing of a notification the civic body had issued
banning the installation of advertisement hoardings for a year.

The court observed that the agencies have to the pay price for creating a mess in the city and that the unauthorised hoardings/structures have to go as the court has taken a stand in the public interest.

It also directed the petitions to be heard by the division bench after the disposal of the batch of public interest litigations seeking removal of unauthorised flexes and hoardings in the city.

In the last hearing, the court had directed the Palike not to take any action in a haste with regard to the removal of advertisement structures.

The petitioners, who are the advertising agencies, had contended that the notification banning the installation of advertisement hoardings would affect their livelihood. Furthermore, they had installed the hoardings in compliance with the advertisement bylaws, the agencies said.