Will form panel to crack down on illegal hoardings if govt fails: HC

CHENNAI: Exasperated by huge unauthorized hoardings that keep cropping up in various parts of the city despite judicial orders banning them, the Madras high court said it would hand over the task of monitoring hoardings to a court-appointed committee if the state fails to take coercive action against violators.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan also summoned the senior divisional commercial manager of Southern Railway and the director of the fisheries department to appear personally before the court on the next date of hearing.
Listing specific spots such as Nelson Manickam Road, Chetpet bridge, Teynampet junction and railway premises where illegal hoardings are noticed, the judges said, "We must express our disappointment that new hoardings keep coming up repeatedly even after orders have been passed. Does it not show that the authorities concerned appear to be either devoid of machinery to check this or doubt is created on their intent?
We have made it clear that if this menace is not stopped, we will have no option but to appoint a court committee to take over the task and monitor it."
Authorities should also explore a single-window clearance to grant licences so that law-abiding people are not made to run from pillar to post, the judges said.