Not a single flex should be found: HC to police chief

BENGALURU:Reiterating that the city police commissioner will be held responsible even if a single flex is found in the city, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday set a August 31 deadline for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to accomplish the task of removing all unauthorised hoardings/flexes/banners in the city and finalise the advertisement policy.

While adjourning the hearing on a batch of public interest petitions to August 31, a division bench of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas told the BBMP counsel that efforts have to be made to restore the original beauty of Bengaluru that the city was known for. This was after the BBMP counsel V Sreenidhi informed the court that the civic body will finalise the advertisement policy by August 31.
Noting that there were some flexes/hoardings still uncleared in some areas, the court reiterated that it had already made it clear that the city police commissioner will be held responsible even a single flex is put up. “Why are flexes still there? Why are they (police) not monitoring the CCTVs?” the court questioned.
To this, the BBMP counsel said those flexes were put on bylanes, poles, etc., where there were no CCTVs.  The court said if there were no CCTVs, beat constables could check them. “Are they not checking it?...You (BBMP) cannot relax till flexes spring back everywhere again. You should be serious and ask the police commissioner also,” the court said.

Meanwhile, Advocate General Uday Holla updated the court on the status of 56 cases out of 234 FIRs registered under provisions of the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981. In the 56 cases, the accused persons have pleaded guilty and were fined in accordance with law, he informed.

Maintain database of offenders: Court

When the hight court asked if a database of cases of disfigurement of public places, with particulars of the accused, were maintained, the Advocate General said the Crime Records Bureau/Bureaus concerned will take necessary steps in that regard.Then, the court observed that just branding them as offenders is not enough and it is essential to ensure that they do not commit the offence again. A database of the guilty persons needs to be maintained along with their antecedents.

“If there is no system in place of maintaining a database, it has to be created because they cannot be allowed to pay a fine and get off every time,” the court said. Meanwhile, the court was also informed that the BBMP commissioner had rectified the wrong impression given in the communication issued to the Managing Director of Bescom for disconnecting power supply to the unauthorised hoardings.

1,192 applications received

The BBMP counsel informed the court that a total 1,192 applications were received, both online and offline, by the officials of eight zones, claiming that they had valid licence/documents for the hoardings erected in city. These documents required to be assessed, as no licence was issued after January 2016. Of the eight zones, the highest number of 738 applications were received from East Zone and 240 from South zone. These applications will be cleared by August 27. Taking note of this, the court asked BBMP to carry out the process in accordance with law.

BBMP informed the court that there are a total of 112 cases pending before the High Court and 90 cases before the City Civil Courts in connection with hoardings. As far as removal of hoardings is concerned, a total of 90 civil suits are pending and there was interim order of stay passed in 26 cases.