By IANS,
New Delhi : An advertiser Monday approached the Supreme Court seeking enforcement of the right under the Maharashtra government’s license to advertise through hoardings mounted on special vans.
A vacation bench of Justices C.K. Thakkar and L.S. Panta issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the Municipal Corporation of Brihan Mumbai, asking why the advertiser should not be allowed to operate mobile hoarding vans as per the contract awarded to it by the Greater Mumbai civic corporation.
The lawsuit, by Supri Advertising and Entertainment Private Limited, challenged a Bombay High Court ruling that had struck down the license awarded by the Mumbai civic body.
The Bombay High Court struck down the license on a public interest lawsuit, that contended that the mushrooming growth of advertisement vans, mounted with huge hoardings and stationed at vantage points was creating traffic snarls on Mumbai’s arterial roads, besides damaging trees along the roads.
Challenging the high court ruling, the advertising firm contended that it had been displaying mobile hoardings only at earmarked places on main roads and carriage ways for just two hours at one place since May 2007.
According to the firm, it had taken the whole contract for display in the city, eastern suburb and western expressway zones and was affected by the court order.
The authorities took into account traffic rules, volumes of traffic, obstruction to the flow of traffic, if any, while awarding the contract.
“The places and spots for display of mobile hoardings were chosen by the authorities after obtaining no-objection certificate from the office of the joint commissioner of police (Traffic),” it added.
Senior counsel Arun Jaitley, appearing for the advertiser, contended that it had already deposited more than Rs.250 million towards license fee, occupancy charges, for acquiring modern equipment and vehicles, etc.