THE HON’BLE SMT. JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI WRIT PETITIONS No. 36328 of 2022, 19518 of 2018, 6932 of 2019, 6515 of 2020, 6538 of 2020, 6539 of 2020,6540 of 2020, 6564 of 2020, 6857 of 2020, 6865 of 2020, 6870 of 2020, 6878 of 2020, 6879 of 2020,7229 of 2020, 9290 of 2020, 20207 of 2020, 18934 of 2020, 20798 of 2020, 21749 of 2020. 4786 of 2021, 12215 of 2021, 19517 of 2021,19966 of 2021, 19970 of 2021, 20470 of 2021, 22582 of 2021, 32255 of 2021, 8762 of 2022, 1507 of 2022, 2853 of 2022, 3357 of 2022, 5452 of 2022, 5858 of 2022, 5888 of 2022, 6010 of 2022, 6213of 2022, 6142 of 2022, 6248 of 2022, 8167 of 2022, 8474 of 2022, 10201 of 2022, 10441 of 2022, 11437 of 2022, 11699 of 2022, ,12879 of 2022, 16616 of 2022,17463 of 2022, 20190 of 2022, 22946 of 2022, 25557 of 2022, 26094 of 2022, 26418 of 2022, 28551 of 2022,29403 of 2022, 31415 of 2022, 33700 of 2022 38644 of

2022, 38658 of 2022, 38758 of 2022 and 10666 of 2022.

COMMON ORDER:

The core issue that falls for consideration before the Court is validity / authority of the respondents in issuing G.O.Ms.No.68, dated 20.04.2020 basing on which the respondents have issued notices directing the petitioners to pay penalty. As such, all these Writ Petitions are disposed of by way of a common judgment.

2. For convenience sake, the facts in Writ Petition No. 6870 of 2020 and Writ Petition No. 38758 of 2022 are dealt with for the purpose of discussion.

Writ Petition No. 6870 of 2020.

3. It is the case of the petitioner that by the impugned G.O., the Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department has formulated a policy pertaining to advertisements in GHMC area and as per the same, no advertisement elements which are above 15 feet in height from ground level shall be permitted to exist. In the year 2007, vide Resolution No. 24 dated 04.07.2007, sanction and approval of the corporation was granted for the sizes of the advertisement elements to be fixed unit-pole / unit-structure (ground), total height from ground level should be 80’ including maximum display size of board 40’ x 40’; hoarding (ground / building): the maximum size of the hoardings is 50’ x 25’ and that all the uni- poles and hoardings currently on display adhere to the conditions duly laid down by way of Resolution No. 24 dated 04.07.2007. It is stated that in the year 2016, in the meeting held by the City Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Commissioner, GHMC dated 21.05.2016, the advertising agencies have been consulted in order to enhance the structural stability of the advertising elements. In this meeting it was decide by the GHMC to constitute a High Level Committee and consult Senior Structural Engineers from Osmania University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and in that regard, obtained recommendations from them for revised structural designs that withstands high-speed winds. That vide letter dated 06.08.2016 the recommendations made by Dr.N.V.Ramana Rao, Professor JNTUH, certain instructions were issued keeping in mind the structural stability of the hoardings, safety of the public, new sizes of the advertisement elements to be notified with prior permission to be taken by the advertising agencies proportional to the height of the hoardings / advertisement elements. Having been aggrieved by the instructions to limit the height of the advertisement elements up to 2 floors only, various advertisement agencies challenged the said provision before this Court and this Court had in fact granted interim suspension of the operation of the new sizes as determined vide letter dated 06.08.2016. thereafter, GHMC has resorted to the prior sizes as determined vide Resolution No. 24, dated 04.07.2007 and the same are continued until today. It is submitted that GHMC has issued letter dated 20.03.2020 for renewal of permission of hoardings and uni-poles for the year 2020-21 as per permissible sizes in vogue. Vide this letter GHMC has laid down certain conditions in order to become entitled for renewal of permission. Other