Right to advertise: Advertisement agencies challenge removal of billboards

Say they paid a huge amount of money to use the open spaces for commercial use.


Our Correspondent June 22, 2013
City administrator had ordered cancellation of permission for the display of billboards in certain areas of Karachi.

KARACHI:


The Sindh High Court has directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation authorities not to take any action contrary to the law against the three outdoor advertisement agencies who had challenged the removal of their billboards from different sites in Clifton.


Three private outdoor advertisement agencies - including M/s Grace Communications, Prime Services and Ad Change - took the provincial secretary of the local government department, Karachi Administrator, KMC’s executive director and the advertising department’s director to the court on Friday over the matter.



They submitted that they were permitted by the corporation’s authorities to display their advertisement billboards on different sites in Clifton. A huge amount of money was also paid for allowing the open spaces for commercial use.

The local government secretary, however, sent a letter to the city administrator on June 19, directing him to cancel the permission granted earlier for fixing billboards at the Clifton Bridge, Park Tower Helipad, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park and other parks in view of security threats.

In response to such directives, the administrator had ordered cancellation of permission for the display of billboards in those areas.

The petitioner claimed that they were license holders and were fully observing the legal formalities.



They pleaded the court to declare the local government’s orders regarding cancellation of permission to display billboards as illegal.

The bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, issued notice to the provincial advocate general, administrator and other officials of the KMC for a date to be later notified by the office. In the meantime, the judges ordered them not to take any action contrary to law against the petitioner till the next date.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2013.

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