KARACHI: The deadline given to Defence Housing Authorities (DHA) and Cantonment authorities for removal of billboards will expire tomorrow.
The apex court took notice of the violation of its ban on illegal billboards on public and private properties in Karachi and asked the authorities to remove them 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 Defence Housing Authority and the cantonment boards.
The bench warned it may initiate contempt of court proceedings against the officers if they failed to comply with the orders within the deadline.
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. The judges decided to take strict action against the federal and provincial law officers for failing to prevent the re-emergence of 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.
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.
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.
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.