Amid PCMC drive against illegal hoardings, HC clears decks for regularisation of billboards set up as per norms
Even as the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has launched a campaign against illegal hoardings in the industrial city, the Bombay High Court has cleared the decks for the regularisation of hoardings that have followed the laid-down norms.
The civic body launched the campaign after the hoarding collapse in Kiwale earlier this month led to the death of five persons.
In a release, the civic administration said the Bombay High Court, in its order dated April 25, has paved the way for the regularisation of those hoardings whose owners had approached the court in April last year. “The Bombay High Court has accepted the draft rules submitted by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Outdoor Advertising Association and the PCMC. It has asked the PCMC to take action as per the draft rules placed before it. Accordingly, only those hoardings which fit our norms would be allowed to continue and those that violate the norms will be removed,” PCMC Assistant Municipal Commissioner Nilesh Deshmukh told The Indian Express.
In April last year, after the PCMC decided to take action against 434 illegal hoardings, the association approached the Bombay High Court which had given a stay against “any coercive” action by the civic body.
Deshmukh said that as the high court on April 25 gave its ruling on a petition filed by the association against PCMC’s plan to flatten 434 hoardings in the industrial city, the civic body will ensure that hoarding norms issued by the state government on May 9, 2022 would be implemented strictly. “This will ensure that the city’s skyline does not get affected. We will flatten any illegal hoardings that we find. Last week we flattened 90 illegal hoardings during our drive,” he said.
Deshmukh said they will inspect the size of the 434 hoardings. “For this, the Sky Sign and Licensing Department of the PCMC has formed six squads. Additional Municipal Commissioner Jitendra Wagh has issued orders to officials to submit a report in this regard in two days. Besides, officials have been told to submit a report in seven days about hoardings that have been given permission,” he said.
The PCMC administration said owners of 434 illegal hoardings who had approached the court will have to pay the licence fee for the two-year period during which they were set up. “Besides, they will have to pay compounding fees once their hoarding is accepted for regularisation. The licence fee is Rs 1 lakh per year. The compounding fee will be five times the licence fees. We expect to collect Rs 6-7 crore from owners of the hoardings,” he said.
