SC Karachi registry ruled that over-sized illegal billboards and signboards cannot be preferred over human lives. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Billboards have started dotting the city skyline again and the Supreme Court (SC) is not happy.
On Thursday, the apex court took notice of the violation of its ban on illegal billboards and hoardings on public and private properties in Karachi and asked the authorities to take them down within three days.
The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim and comprising justices Qazi Faiz Isa and Faisal Arab, gave this deadline to all deputy commissioners, the chief executive officers of the cantonment boards and the Defence Housing Authority.
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If any of these officers fails to comply with these orders within the deadline, the bench warned it may initiate contempt of court proceedings against them.
The bench was hearing a case against the illegal and unauthorised billboards and hoardings installed at public and private properties in Karachi at the SC Karachi Registry. At the outset of the proceedings, the judges came down hard on the federal and provincial law officers for failing to prevent the re-emergence of such billboards.
Justice Hani reminded them that the court had previously ordered that not only billboards but their structures must also be removed at both public as well as private properties.
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Even in the vicinity of the SC building, hoardings and billboards have been installed on utility poles, he said, asking who ordered their reinstallation and why had the relevant officials failed to act against them.
Justice Hani observed that the displaying the hoardings despite the ban amounted to making mockery of the court orders. The bench warned that, in the future, action will also be taken against the company that installed the hoardings.
The provincial advocate-general, Barrister Zamir Ahmed Ghumro, informed that such billboards and hoardings were displayed in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of Defence Housing Authority, which irked the bench members. If the court had ordered their removal, why are billboards still displayed, the judges wanted to know.
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"Such banners or boards are still hanging off poles right in front of a private hospital," said Justice Hani.
Justice Isa observed that the court's orders were being flouted openly outside the buildings of the Sindh Assembly, the Sindh High Court and the Sindh Secretariat. Addressing the provincial advocate-general and deputy attorney general, the judge questioned whether the laws are only applicable to the poor people. The law officers and other officials remained silent.
"Then pass another law that the laws will not be applicable to the MPAs," remarked Justice Isa. "This will work well."
SC orders take down of all billboards in Karachi
Taking serious notice of the conduct, the bench ordered all the deputy commissioners, the CEOs of cantonment boards and the DHA administrator to ensure the removal of billboards and hoardings within three days. The bench also sought compliance report after three days, when the next hearing is scheduled.
Original judgment
In May last year, the apex court had in detail defined what qualifies as 'public' space. "There is no law which permits KMC, DMCs, cantonment boards or any other agency in Karachi to install billboards or hoardings on a public property." Such an act on the part of the permission-granting agency is against the civil rights of the citizens, it had observed.
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