Illegal hoardings in ULBs are set to attract criminal case and penalties

Taking a stern stand against illegal hoardings that are an eyesore in urban areas of the State, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Monday adopted the Karnataka Municipalities and Certain Law (Amendment) Bill that seeks to make it mandatory for all the hoardings including those put up on the private properties to take prior permission by paying the required fee to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

Piloting the Bill, Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh announced that criminal cases would be filed against those who violate the norms. The Bill seeks to make provisions for advertisements on par with the provisions of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, the Minister noted.

The Minister expressed concern that the ULBs were losing out on revenues to the tune of over ₹ 100 crore as those who put up hoardings were not paying any taxes to them, citing various technicalities.

Once the Bill in this regard becomes a legislation, putting up any advertisement hoardings including the flexes without permission would attract punishment including penalties, he explained.

According to him, different ULBs would have different fee structure for the hoardings. However, the revenues from these hoardings would be passed on to them.

The Minister said that the hoardings across the ULBs would be mapped through drone survey. There will be separate fee structure for LED hoardings, he noted.

Responding to concerns about use of plastic banners and flexes, the minister made it clear that no plastic flexes or banners would be allowed in any of the ULBs.

The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to include the reasons such as misconduct and dereliction of duty as reasons that could come in the way of ensuring a minimum tenure of two years for police officers, was also adopted by the Assembly.