The Delhi High Court today said "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 ads on public service vehicles.
"There can't be any pre-censorship," a bench of justices B D Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru observed while seeking response of Delhi government on a plea by an auto union which raised objection against the guidelines which do not permit display of political advertisements on public service vehicles (PSVs).
The court directed the government to file its reply on three different objections raised by the auto union, which also sought setting aside of the guidelines issued by the department and approved by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on May 19.
On August 1, the Delhi government had placed its latest guidelines for display of advertisements on PSVs, according to which any advertisement containing political, ethnic, religious or sectarian text will not be permitted.
It specified that the vehicle owner needed to obtain an approval from municipal authorities before publishing or displaying any political advertisements on PSVs.
"Advertisements cannot be displayed without approval from municipal bodies and are allowed only for vehicles having GPS/GPRS systems,"the guidelines said.
The bench, however, questioned the Delhi government's step to allow advertisements only for auto rickshaws having GPS/GPRS systems and pre-censorship of advertisements by civic bodies.
It also suggested to the government that it can remove the word "political" from the guidelines.
Delhi government's standing counsel Zubeda Begum said she will take instructions and file a detailed response on the issue.
During the hearing, the bench noted that the government can't stop them (autorickshaws) from putting up advertisements as there was a stay order of the court on the government's decision barring autos from putting advertisements.
"As of today they (autos) can advertise freely because of the stay order," the court said.
