The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Friday submitted an affidavit naming several political and social personalities who have put up illegal flexes, hoardings, banners and cutouts across the city. In the next hearing, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court is likely to decide whether to impose a fine of Rs 5 lakh on each of these individuals for violating court orders. According to the affidavit, the highest number of illegal banners - 200 were put up by Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader Kiran Pandav. He was followed by BJP leader Dr Rajesh Dharmaraobaba Atram, who put up 153 banners. Sunil Thakur and Sudhakar Mane of NCP erected 100 banners, while Sanjay Devarkar and Arun Khan of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Annasaheb Bansode of RPI each put up 50 banners. Most of these banners were seen on the Wardha Road flyover.

 

In total, the NMC has seized 553 illegal banners. Other individuals whose names appear in the affidavit include Ashok Jain, Sumukh Mishra (Shiv Sena - Shinde), Prakash Mehadia (BJP), Prasanna Paturkar (BJP), Chandrapak Choukse, Ashwin Dhanvijay (on Constitution Day), Jagdish Khapekar, Sachin Tumane (BJP), Charandip Happy Singh, Airtel HD Wi-Fi, and Technical International Education Council. They are also under scrutiny for putting up illegal hoardings. The NMC has named more than 100 persons who have erected illegal banners in the list. It may be mentioned here that the High Court has taken a strict view of the increasing number of illegal hoardings put up during the Winter Session. The court expressed strong displeasure over the open violation of rules and asked NMC to submit a complete list of those responsible.

 

The court questioned why a Rs 5 lakh fine should not be recovered from each person, and why criminal cases and contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them. The bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Rajnish Vyas was hearing a contempt petition filed by Dinesh Naidu. During Tuesday’s hearing, the court noted that over 60 illegal hoardings were placed on metro pillars along Wardha Road. The judges issued strong warnings to the NMC and even said that responsible officials could be sent to jail. In this case, Adv Tushar Mandlekar represented the petitioners.