MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed the Indian Railways to
formulate a policy for putting up hoardings on its properties that takes
into consideration the safety of the public.

A division bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Sandeep Shinde passed the orders while thwarting a bid by the BMC to collect “advertisement tax” for the hoardings that are put up on railway land but face public roads.

There are 225 such hoardings on lands owned by Central Railways and 240 on lands owned by Western Railways
that reportedly earn over Rs 60 crore revenue annually. The court held
that BMC permission was not needed for the hoardings on railway land and
neither could the corporation collect a “fee” from the hoarding owners.
The bench, however, expressed concern over the haphazard manner in
which hoardings are put up.

“We are of the considered view that erection of hoardings in haphazard
manner thereby endangering the safety of citizens would not be in the
larger public interest,” said the division bench. It gave the railways
six months to come up with a policy “for regulating the hoardings on the
railway properties, after taking into consideration various statutory
provisions, so as to ensure that the hoardings are not erected in
haphazard manner, that there is no overcrowding of the hoardings and
that the safety of citizens is not endangered.” The judges said they
would appreciate it if the railways involved the BMC while framing a
policy for the city.