Hyderabad school fined Rs 1 lakh for erecting banner on pavement

The school was fined for erecting an unauthorised advertisement element above 15 feet in height from ground level.
The GHMC fined the school management for erecting the banner in violation of the norms
The GHMC fined the school management for erecting the banner in violation of the norms
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A school in Hyderabad was fined Rs 1 lakh by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for erecting a banner on a pavement in the city, in violation of the rules. The fine came after activist Vijay Gopal took to Twitter and attached two photos showing the encroachment onto the footpath.

"Take care of this encroachment, please. Heard it has been penalised in the past. Footpath encroached with the advertisement. Please levy penalty and do the needful," he tweeted, adding that the school was located in Karmanghat.

In response to the tweet, the Central Enforcement Cell (CEC) of the Directorate Of Enforcement Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) under the GHMC issued a challan, fining the educational institution Rs 1 lakh for "erecting unauthorised advertisement element above 15 feet in height from ground level".

"It is found that without the written permission of the competent authority, you have erected an advertisement, which is an offence committed under sections of the GHMC Act. Therefore, exercising the powers, the offence is compounded with an amount of Rs 1 lakh," the challan states.

The CEC is an online e-challan system started by EVDM wing Director Viswajit Kampati and his team, which had also come up with a website to make the entire process more transparent and accountable.

Any citizen can take a photo of a poster, banner or a sticker that is defacing the city and notify the cell's Twitter handle. Based on the photo, a challan is generated, with a pre-existing fine proportionate to the offence.

In February this year, several citizens took photographs of flexi and posters put up by political parties, which, in turn, led to penalties being levied. Following this, politicians had demanded that the CEC be dismantled. Civic activists in the city had reacted strongly and argued that the CEC should stay, as it was protecting the city from issues like encroachments and keeping a check on violation of rules.

Corporators of the GHMC had asked Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan to abolish the entire wing itself, but the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government decided against it.

 

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