Is the Commissioner of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) finding it difficult to handle the responsibilities of his office? If he can’t work without court orders, we will engage other competent officers, the Karnataka High Court observed on Monday.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R. Devdas made oral observations in this regard after noticing that Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad had wrongly referred to directions of the court in a communication sent to the Bescom to disconnect power supplies to illegal advertisement hoardings.
Making it clear that the court had not given directions as mentioned by the Commissioner in his August 17 communication to the Managing Director of Bescom, the bench said, “If he [Commissioner] thinks that he cannot work without a court order, let him say so.”
The bench asked whether the entire BBMP has to be run by the high court. Is the Commissioner under pressure,. the bench asked.
However, BBMP counsel clarified that Commissioner has been and will discharge his responsibilities.
These remarks were made by the bench after a counsel, appearing for a group of advertising agencies, submitted a copy of the Commissioner’s letter to the Bescom, and pointed out that a structure put up at a cost of ₹70 lakh by ‘obtaining necessary permissions’ was removed by the BBMP without heeding to a plea by the agency. The copy was submitted during the hearing of PIL petitions, related to menace of illegal flexes and banners, through which the court is monitoring the BBMP’s actions.
The bench, in its order, questioned the need for the Commissioner to write to the Bescom at this stage when the BBMP had, in a public notice, given time till August 20 for owners of the properties and advertisement agencies to submit documents to prove that they had put up these structures by obtaining proper sanctions.
340 responses
Meanwhile, it was pointed out to the court that 340 responses were received along with documents in relation to the public notice and the BBMP will examine the claim made in these responses on having obtained permission for putting up advertisement hoardings.
The court was also informed that the BBMP will submit its advertisement policy by August 31 after completing the process of finalising it by August 23 and getting necessary clearance from the State government.
Pleaded guilty
The accused in 33 cases out of the 200 charge sheets filed under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981 have pleaded guilty, the State Public Prosecutor told the bench. The bench adjourned further hearing till August 21 asking the State to submit details of the cases in which the accused have pleaded guilty.
