Councillors oppose draft advertisement rules framed by government

It is a ‘no’ from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) councillors to bring back hoardings in the city.

On Monday, during the special meeting convened to discuss the issue, councillors across party lines expressed objection to the draft BBMP Advertisement Rules, 2019, that attempts to bring back hoardings.

The civic body had passed a resolution banning all commercial hoardings, banners, posters, buntings, etc for a period of one year in August 2018. Councillors sought to know why the Urban Development Department (UDD) felt the need to notify the draft rules when the civic body had already framed the BBMP Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Policy and Bylaws, 2018.

Kadu Malleshwara councillor Manjunath Raju said, “The draft was submitted to the government seeking approval in January 2019. Clarifications were sought thrice, to which the BBMP responded.” M.K. Gunasekhar, Jayamahal councillor, asked if Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad and Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun had been consulted. Noting that bylaws cannot override rules, he said the civic body could no longer collect advertisement tax, as Goods and Services Tax was already in place. “We will not get any revenue, nor do we have the staff to monitor the hoardings. There is no reason for the hoardings to make a comeback,” he said.

Opposition Leader Padmanabha Reddy said the bylaws are ‘deemed to be approved’ if the government doesn’t approve them within three months, as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. “But what’s more serious is that two meetings on the rules were held when the Model Code of Conduct was in place. How did BBMP officials attend the meeting?” he asked.

Responding, Mr. Prasad said a survey had identified 5,522 hoardings across the city and the arrears, including advertisement tax, interest and penalty, was pegged at ₹331 crore. “The Karnataka High Court, which was hearing cases related to advertisement hoardings, directed BBMP to take up another survey. We found 1,864 hoardings were illegal and filed over 400 FIRs. A total of 1,300 hoardings were removed, while a few approached the court and got a stay on collection of arrears. The BBMP is challenging the stay,” he said.

He added that the comprehensive policy and bylaws were sent to government after approval from council. “Apart from ads on toilets, skywalks and bus shelters — built on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) basis — all other forms are banned. After a public hearing, we sent a report to the government,” he said.

Mr. Prasad said the last communication on the BBMP’s policy and bylaws was on March 13. “A meeting was convened on March 20, 2019, when the poll code was in force. However, since I was the District Election Officer, I did not attend it,” he said, and added that a few days later, the government sought changes in the bylaws incorporating hoardings. “I responded that the BBMP council had to take this decision. However, another meeting was held at the government-level and the draft rules were published on July 15,” he said, and clarified that the government could only interfere if the BBMP had failed to frame the bylaws or if the bylaws were deemed inadequate.

The council, which will meet again on Tuesday, is expected to pass a resolution opposing the draft rules and submit the same to the government.

Tender cancelled

BBMP councillors raised questions about how the civic body could float a tender for LED display boards and allow advertisements, when the council had banned all forms of ads.

Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said the tender had been deemed illegal and he had directed the chief engineer concerned to cancel it immediately. He also said a show-cause notice would be issued to the official concerned. The councillors demanded that the official be suspended.