The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Court asks Corporation to frame rules to regulate hoardings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 16, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Court asks Corporation to frame rules to regulate hoardings

Special Correspondent

None of the political parties followed rules, says public interest litigation petition `There must be no hoardings near heritage buildings such as the High Court and the University'

EYESORE OR ATTRACTION? Mushrooming of billboards all over Chennai has caught the attention of the Madras High Court. — Photo: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI: The First Bench of the Madras High Court has expressed concern over the mushrooming of hoardings all over Chennai, and has asked the Chennai Corporation to frame rules to regulate them.

The Bench's observations came during hearing on a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate K. Kanagaraj on Wednesday.

"All over the city, there are hoardings depicting some individuals. Who pays for putting up these structures," asked Chief Justice A.P. Shah.

He also observed that the civic body must frame rules and ensure that no hoardings were erected in the vicinity of heritage buildings such as the High Court and the University, as also the Marina Beach.

Apex court directive

The Bench also asked advocate T. Mohan as to what happened to the hoarding-related cases that he had handled a few years ago.

To this, the advocate replied that though the Supreme Court had directed the State Government to take steps to remove hazardous structures within six months, nothing was done despite the lapse of three years. The Bench then asked Mr. Mohan to furnish all relevant documents in court during the next hearing. It then posted the matter to next week.

In his petition, Mr. Kanagaraj submitted that none of the political parties followed rules relating to advertisements and hoardings, and that the civic body too did not take any action against the violators.

He said political parties putting up unauthorised hoardings at the cost of public money caused great injustice to the general public. They also diverted the attention of road users and are a hindrance to smooth flow of traffic, he said.

He prayed for a direction to the Chennai Corporation to remove the unauthorised hoardings erected at various places by the political parties in and around Chennai.

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