The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the strict enforcement of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Permission for Erection of Digital Banners and Placards) Rules, 2011, while granting permission to erect flex boards, festoons, buntings, cut-outs and the like on roads and pavements.
Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu directed the officials concerned to grant permission for the erection of digital banners and placards, strictly in accordance with the 2011 Rules, and ensure that parties as well as private individuals adhere to the stipulated regulations.
The interim orders were passed on a couple of petitions, including one which complained of a 13-year-old boy having been electrocuted while erecting flagpoles to welcome Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi to a marriage in the family of a DMK cadre in Villupuram on August 20. The boy had died after an iron flagpole he was erecting came in contact with a live overhead cable. The court was informed that the boy’s family had been paid due compensation, and a criminal case booked against the contractor who had engaged the student, studying in Class VIII, for erecting flagpoles.
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Taking note that the 2011 Rules contained elaborate procedures, such as making applications, along with topo sketches of the roads where the digital banners were proposed to be put up, the judges said the rules also required applicants to obtain no-objection certificates from the police to avoid obstructing the movement of pedestrians and vehicles.
Further, applicants must pay a permission fee of ₹200 for Corporation areas and ₹100 for Municipal areas, besides making a refundable deposit of ₹50 per digital banner. The entire deposit amount can be forfeited if any damage is caused to the roads or public properties while erecting or removing the banners. The rules also empower officials to demand additional compensation if the damages are severe, and prescribe the maximum size for the digital banners and placards, depending on the width of the road where they are proposed to be erected. The rules also prohibit the erection of digital banners on narrow roads that are less than 10-feet wide.