SC places ban on billboards on public property

Published May 6, 2016
A huge billboard is put up on the surface of the road near the Teen Talwar traffic intersection.— White Star
A huge billboard is put up on the surface of the road near the Teen Talwar traffic intersection.— White Star

KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday clamped a complete ban on the grant of permission by any authority to install billboard or hoarding on any portion of public place or property in Karachi, ordering the authorities concerned for the umpteenth time to remove all licensed and unlicensed hoarding and signboards from the public properties.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the authorities concerned to uproot within 15 days all hoardings and signboards installed on the public properties in the metropolis which do not conform to the prescribed guidelines.

The bench that also comprised Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Khilji Arif Hussain further directed the authorities concerned to remove all licensed billboards and hoardings from public properties from their respective jurisdiction by June 30.

The bench ordered that in the intervening period, no permission shall be granted by any of the authority in Karachi to install the billboard/hoarding on any portion of public place/property.


Removal of licensed, unlicensed hoardings, signboards within 15 days ordered


It ruled: “As a first step, we are of the considered view that no billboard or hoarding can be permitted to be installed on any public property as defined in the preceding paragraph by any authority under the garb of by-laws which militate [against] the civil rights of the public at large.”

Therefore, the bench ordered, all the authorities concerned are directed to immediately remove all the billboards/hoardings installed without permission within their jurisdiction within 15 days from today and report compliance.

The court ordered that the billboards/hoardings installed in the public properties under any license or lease shall be uprooted by June 30 by the advertising agencies concerned which owned that poles or displaying materials or by the contractors if they own such material or by the authorities with whose permission the billboards or hoardings were installed.

According to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), there are 17 agencies which permit the installation of hoardings in the city.

The bench directed Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin to hold meetings within a month with all the stakeholders who granted permission for installation of such billboards/hoardings in Karachi to finalise the amendments to the proposed by-laws applicable beyond the public properties “so that city-wide uniformity could be achieved on the one hand and safety measures of the citizens of Karachi shall be ensured on the other hand”.

The bench further observed that there was no law that permitted the KMC, the district municipal corporations, cantonments boards or any other agency in the metropolis to install billboards and hoardings on a public property. “Such an act on the part of permission granting agency is against the civil rights of the citizens,” it further remarked in the order.

The court observed that the civil rights of the citizens could not be hampered with by erecting the billboards and hoardings on the civic amenity meant for the use and benefit of public at large, “besides such an act would endanger the life and property of the common man”.

The bench ordered that Advocate General Nisar Durrani should also attend the proposed meetings.

It asked the additional attorney general to submit a report on the matter within one month and directed court’s office to fax the copy of the order to the Sindh High Court registrar for placing it before the SHC chief justice and all the judges for their information.

Earlier, the Cantonment Board Faisal (CBF) in its report stated that 93 illegal hoardings were installed within its jurisdiction, while 31 and 33 such boards were installed on the land owned by Pakistan Navy (PN) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), respectively.

Besides, the report said, 26 illegal signboards were installed on the land of station headquarters, two on the land owned by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and one illegal signboard was installed on the land of Pakistan Railway.

It said 14 illegal signboards were removed from Karsaz and 10 others were uprooted from Rashid Minhas Road.

The bench gave the directions for the removal of illegal hoardings while hearing a petition of the Cantonment Board Karachi (CBK) against the Sindh High Court’s order that had nullified the excessive advertisement tax imposed by the board on private outdoor advertisement boards.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016

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