Do you remember that four years ago the Supreme Court had banned billboards in Karachi? And if there was a ban, you would not be wrong in wondering why billboards have still sprung up around the city. In fact, if you pass by Frere Hall, you’ll see an ice cream company’s well-known symbol and an “I heart Karachi” sign with life-sized letters placed at the small bridge of the park by the road.

On Friday, today, the Sindh High Court came down hard on the fact that billboards were being put up against the Supreme Court’s 2018 orders. It had said that no one could install billboards on public properties, overhead bridge, pedestrian bridges, service roads.

The Sindh High Court then gave a detailed order on Oct 10, 2022 about those orders being followed. Illegal billboards are occupying public properties and new types of structures for them are being put up. You would have noticed entire walls being covered by billboard-like advertising signage.

The SHC wants details on 24 major roads:

• Shahrah-e-Faisal
• Shahrah-e-Quaideen
• Manghopir Road
• Ch. Khaliquzzaman Road
• Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road
• Tipu Sultan Road
• University road
• Abul Hasan Ispahani Road
• Shahrah-e-Sher Shah Suri Road
• Rashid Minhas Road
• Korangi Industrial road
• Abdullah Haroon Road
• I. I. Chundrigar Road
• Nishtar Road
• Shaheed-e-Millat Road
• MA Jinnah Road
• Shahrah-e-Liaquat
• Shahrah-e-Pakistan
• Shahrah-e-Iraq
• Aiwan-e-Tijarat Road
• Shahrah-e-Firdousi
• Shahrah-e-Iran
• Club Road
• MT Khan Road

The nazir of the court will get reports from assistant commissioners for the list of roads. They have to give the location of all billboards erected in public places, with pictures. They have to mention the entity whose goods and services are being advertised, along with the names of the officers who were responsible for the installation of these billboards. They can face action for contempt of court.

The order is to remove signboards from flyovers, pedestrian bridges and all public properties. The Sindh government, KMC, all cantonment boards have to submit a report on November 15.

Advertising companies had gone to court against the cantonment board’s tax on billboards but the SHC threw out the petition. The understanding is that since billboards were banned in the first place, then the matter of taxes does not even arise. Anyone who wants to put up a billboard needs to get permission from the land-owning agency. In this case, it can be KMC or a cantonment board. Billboards along a certain long stretch of Shahrah-e-Faisal, for example, can only go up if Faisal cantonment board allows it. These cantonment boards and KMC charge local taxes in return.