Auto ads policy taking time due to change of minister: HC told

The AAP government has told the Delhi High Court it was not against changing its policy on advertisements on autos but a final decision will take some time as the earlier Transport Minister had resigned and a new one was at the helm.
The submission was made before a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru which was hearing two PILs filed on behalf of some auto unions challenging the government's policy on display of advertisements on public service vehicles (PSVs), particularly the bar on political ads.
The court, which has already reserved its verdict in the two matters, had taken them up again as it wanted to know whether the government on its own would address the issues raised by the petitioners.

Delhi government counsel Satyakam told the bench they were not objecting to the issues raised by the petitioners but were waiting for a formal decision to come from new Transport Minister Satyendar Jain, who took over following Gopal Rai's resignation.
The lawyer sought two more weeks time to place the government's decision before the court.
In view of the submissions made by the lawyer, the court listed the matter for hearing on August 26.

The court had on an earlier date said the government appeared to be "more interested" in advertisements on buses as these would bring more revenue rather than focusing on a policy for ads on autos where the money would go to owner of the vehicles.

The observation came after the Delhi government told the court that it was reconsidering the entire policy of outdoor advertisements and handed over minutes of a meeting held regarding ads on buses.
In its order of September 19, 2014, the court had focused on three issues - whether political advertisement should be allowed on public service vehicles, their pre-censorship, and whether advertisements ought to be allowed only for vehicles having GPS and GPRS systems.
The earlier Congress government had refused to remove the word "political" from the guidelines.
In June 2013, the then Delhi government had banned advertisements on public service vehicles after autorickshaws started sporting AAP posters in the run-up to Delhi assembly elections.

Thereafter, the high court had stayed the ban.
In May 2014, the city government had informed the court that it was in the process of finalising the general guidelines for allowing advertisements on public service vehicles and was awaiting approval of the Lt Governor.
On August 1, 2014, the government had placed before the court its latest guidelines for display of advertisements on public service vehicles, as per which ads containing political, ethnic, religious or sectarian text will not be permitted.
The policy also stated that advertisements cannot be displayed without prior approval of municipal bodies and would be allowed only for vehicles which have installed GPS/GPRS systems.