Bombay high court on Thursday directed Railways to inform the court whether hoardings put up on railway premises have permission from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or not.
Bombay high court on Thursday directed Railways to inform the court whether hoardings put up on railway premises have permission from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or not. A division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and C.V. Bhadang, while hearing a petition filed by Dr Anahita Pandole, said that even if hoardings are put up on railway property, guidelines framed by BMC must be followed.
Advocate Suresh Kumar, on behalf of the Railways, told the court that his client has the authority to grant permission to put up hoardings on its property but the bench was dissatisfied and said that if this was the Railways’ stand, the court would issue direction to remove each and every hoarding on railway premises and put it up only after following due process.
Senior counsel Joquin Reis said that when BMC sent notice to the Railways over illegal hoardings, the latter said that if BMC officers removed the hoardings, railway authorities would arrest them under the Railways Act and recover damages from them. While BMC claimed Railways is cluttering public spaces without following guidelines, Railways claimed it is not obliged to take prior permission from BMC.
