Billboards continue to dot Malir streets despite SC orders

DMCs and cantt boards ‘chiefs to face contempt charges if deadline missed

KARACHI: Despite the Supreme Court's (SC) orders to remove all the billboards across the city from public spaces by June 30, the Model Colony road in District Malir that goes towards Super Highway continues to don several hoardings, including some new ones.



On Friday, the SC gave a final deadline of three days to all the civic agencies, including the administrators of the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the cantonment boards that contempt of court charges will be framed against them if hoardings are found in their jurisdictions after the deadline has passed.

On July 14, the apex court had already granted an additional week to all the civic bodies for taking down illegal billboards as the deadline set by it expired on June 30.

The judges had also explained in detail the types of places that will fall under the definition of 'public property'. The SC observed that the term 'public property' has a broad meaning and, therefore, the judges clarified it in order to avoid any ambiguity. According to the court, the term 'public property' shall include the following: roads, sidewalks, islands in the centre of a road or service lane, overhead bridges and underpasses, overhead pedestrian walkways or bridges, roundabouts, greenbelts or dividers between a road, pedestrian lanes and nullahs (storm water drains) and the banks of nullahs.



The billboards at Model Colony have cluttered the footpath adjacent to the boundary wall of the Jinnah International Airport. According to a fruit seller in the area, Muhammad Ramazan, the billboards in the area were put up hardly a month ago.

Apart from that, the structures of billboards still occupy public space on the same road as only the skins of the billboards have been removed, which is also a violation of the SC order.

Who is responsible?

Meanwhile, Malir DMC administrator Tariq Mughal said that they had only 48 billboards in their jurisdiction, which they had removed before the first deadline of the SC. Talking about those on the Model Colony road, he said that that area falls under the jurisdiction of Malir Cantonment Board and they do not have the authority to remove billboards in that area.



When asked about the removal of the skins of the billboards alone instead of the entire structures, he claimed that the billboards in his jurisdiction have been rooted out completely.

Malir deputy commissioner Muhammad Ali also acknowledged the presence of the billboards on Model Colony road and said that they are on public property and the Malir Cantonment Board will have to remove them or face contempt charges.

Advertiser trumps court order?

Meanwhile, Malir Cantonment Board billboard incharge Munawar Aleem Rana denied having any billboard in his jurisdiction. When The Express Tribune questioned him about the presence of the ones on the Model Colony road, he said that those were not billboards but just backlight boards and will be removed by July 29. He said that they were installed in the month of February and could not be removed as the contract with the advertisers had not ended by then. The contract ends on July 29.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2016.