Chennai: A public interest litigation has been filed in Madras high court to direct authorities to remove all advertisements at traffic signals and other devices erected for traffic control, traffic guidance and/or traffic information in violation of guidelines on roadside advertisements. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R.Mahadevan, before whom the PIL filed by Coimbatore Consumer Cause, came up for hearing, impleaded National Highways Authority of India as a party respondent in the case.
After government pleader took notice on behalf of the state government and assistant solicitor general took notice for the NHAI, the bench posted to January 19, further hearing of the case. Petitioner’s counsel Sathia Chandran submitted that in 2009, on a petition filed by the petitioner, this court directed the authorities to remove advertisements on the rear side windscreen of private and TNSTC buses since it posed serious safety issues to road users.
In 2011, this court disposed of another PIL of the petitioner. Subsequently, the state government issued an order to remove all commercial advertisements put up in the center medians of roads in the state. Despite these efforts, commercial establishments continued to put up advertisements on traffic signal posts, across the roads along the entire width of traffic signals, severely and adversely affecting road safety as advertisements tend to distract all road users including drivers of vehicles, he added.
He said as per IRC guidelines, Union government’s policy and TN Urban Local Bodies Licensing of Hoardings and Levy and Collection of Advertisement Tax rules, advertisements should not be permitted on boards, placards, cloth banners or sheets hung across a road. Advertisement boards on traffic signals were not only hung across the road but also in the middle of the roads. No advertisement could be permitted at the road junctions. But, all advertisements on traffic signals were only at road junctions. No advertisements should be permitted within 100 meters of road junctions. But, all advertisements on traffic signals were within 100 meters.
