The Delhi High Court today said that if needed it will strike down the word 'political' from the guidelines for displaying advertisements on public service vehicles and suggested to the city government to "get rid" of the word.
"Do you want us to strike it down? We will do that," a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul said, adding, "Remove word political and be done with it. Why do you want to file a response? Just get rid of the word. Why can't you understand the writing on the wall?"
It made the observations after the Delhi government sought more time to file its response to the objections raised by an auto union which has challenged some parts of the guidelines for display of advertisements by public service vehicles (PSVs).
The bench, however, granted city government 10 days as a final opportunity to file its response indicating its stand with respect to the objections raised by the auto union.
"At repeated requests of city government, we are giving final opportunity to file its response indicating its stand with respect to the objections raised. Response to be filed within 10 days. We make it clear that there will be no further adjournment," the court said.
Meanwhile, an intervention application filed by an NGO, iJustice, challenging the entire guidelines was withdrawn after the court asked it to file a separate plea.
Advocate Nikhil Mehra, appearing for the NGO, while withdrawing the application said that some provisions of the guidelines are "prima facie arbitrary".
On August 22, the court had observed that "there can't be any pre-censorship" of public advertisements and sought the city government's response on whether the term "political" can be removed from its guidelines for displaying advertisements on PSVs.
