Shiv Sena to axe workers over illegal banners

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has issued a diktat to its party activists not to raise any hoardings and banners in the state without taking the permission of the authorities concerned. The party has also threatened to expel errant members from the party if the instructions are not followed properly.

In the diktat issued to its office-bearers and activists, party secretary Anil Desai has asked Sainiks to follow the instructions very strictly. It has asked them not to put up hoardings, banners, posters and digital flexes and arcs at public places without prior permission from the authorities concerned. In addition to this, pictures of Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray, party chief Uddhav Thac-keray, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray and other party leaders should not be published on them, he has said.

Rules and regulations should be followed for installing the hoardings, banners, posters and digital flexes and arcs and those installed without taking permission from the authorities concerned will not be considered as official, he said.

The permission given by competent authorities should also be mentioned on banners and hoardings. The activists should co-operate with the officials to remove illegal hoardings, banners, posters, digital flexes and arcs installed by the party workers. They should not resist the action carried out by these officials, said Mr Desai in the statement.

“If found that these instructions are not being followed, the person/offi-ce-bearer concerned will be held responsible for violating the high court orders and disciplinary action will be taken agai-nst them. They will liable for punishment like suspension from the party po-st or even dismissed from the party,” he has said.

The Sena’s diktat comes after the Bombay high court took a stringent stand on the issue of illegal hoardings and banners in the city. It has sought a response from BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, party MLA Ashish Shelar and corporator Alka Kelkar over allegations that hoardings and posters carrying their pictures were put up in the city without the requisite permissions.

On March 2, the high court issued show-cause notices to the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Shiv Sena, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for putting up illegal hoardings and banners across Maharashtra.

A division bench, headed by Justice A.S. Oka, said that it was of the opinion, prima facie, that these political parties had committed a breach of previous orders that prohibited display of hoardings or banners without requisite permission. “There is material to show that these parties have indulged in display of illegal hoardings, banners and so on,”  it stated.