Mumbai: The government informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that it will act against gram panchayats granting “illegal” permissions for erecting giant hoardings.

A government resolution (GR) issued on November 26 by the Rural Development Department directed all gram panchayats to refrain from granting such permissions, warning of action against violations. The GR, issued following a directive from the High Court in August, emphasises that under the Gram Panchayat Act, 1959, gram panchayats lack authority to grant permissions or issue no-objection certificates for advertising hoardings within their jurisdiction.

The resolution mandates the immediate removal of unauthorised hoardings and calls for strict adherence to these instructions. “Action will be taken against those involved in illegal activities as per the provisions of the prevailing law. All Gram Panchayats in the state should take immediate action to remove unauthorized advertisement boards/hoardings within their limits. Everyone should strictly follow these instructions,” the GR read.

Additional government pleader Savina Crasto submitted an affidavit before a bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata, along with a copy of the GR. Crasto said that as per the GR, action would be taken against those committing illegal acts.

Issue Of Illegal Giant Hoardings Gains Prominence

The issue of illegal giant hoardings gained prominence after the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) issued notices to hoarding owners in Navi Mumbai, asking them to remove unauthorised billboards following the collapse of a giant hoarding in Ghatkopar in May. The collapse, caused by heavy rains and winds, resulted in 17 deaths and over 70 injuries.

The tragedy prompted agencies, including the BMC, to conduct surveys and crack down on illegal giant hoardings. Subsequently, hoarding owners and advertising agencies challenged notices issued by MSRDC and CIDCO in the high court, claiming they had permissions from gram panchayats. However, the court refused relief, allowing planning authorities to demolish illegal hoardings when owners failed to remove them voluntarily. On May 30, the agencies had agreed to dismantle the hoardings by the end of August.

Mumbai: The Kurla Police have arrested BEST bus driver Sanjay More (54) in connection with the horrific bus accident on December 9. A case of culpable homicide has been registered against him, and the court has remanded him to police custody until December 21.

Police Sub-Inspector Prashant Chavan (35) from Kurla Police Station lodged a complaint on behalf of the police, leading to the registration of charges under sections 105, 110, 118(1), 118(2), and 324(5) of BNS Act. Following his arrest, More was presented in Court No. 51 of Kurla Magistrate on December 10 afternoon.

Probe To Find Out If Crash Was Deliberate

According to police, reckless driving is alleged since More drove the e-BEST bus recklessly in a crowded area, endangering the lives of passengers and pedestrians. Police are investigating whether More deliberately used the bus as a weapon to harm citizens. Questions are being raised about whether this act was premeditated, part of a conspiracy, or done under someone’s influence.

Authorities are probing whether More had adequate training to operate the e-BEST bus and whether the accident occurred due to a lack of competence.

The incident resulted in the death of seven individuals and left over 30 others injured. Police are examining the accident bus in collaboration with the transportation department. They are also investigating whether More was under the influence of intoxicants at the time of the incident.

Sanjay More’s lawyer, Samadhan Sulane, strongly opposed the police’s demand for custody. Sulane argued that technical information and training details could be obtained through correspondence with the BEST administration. He further stated that the bus had already been seized and that More’s medical examination had been conducted.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Magistrate S.M. Gaurgonde granted police custody of More until December 21 to facilitate further investigation.

Mumbai: Amid the Opposition’s allegations regarding Electronic Voting Machines after the Maharashtra polls in which the ruling Mahayuti alliance registered a landslide victory, state’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Kulkarni has asserted that EVMs cannot be hacked.

He said that the chips used in the EVMs are one-time programmable, making tampering impossible.

“I say this with full responsibility, EVM cannot be hacked. EVM cannot be tampered with. There is a simple reason for this. First, it is a standalone machine …no connection with any network or outer gadget. So, hacking or tampering is not possible. Second, the chip used in it is one-time programmable, so there cannot be any reprogramming,” Kulkarni told ANI on Tuesday.

He further said that there was no need for misunderstandings regarding EVMs since Election Commission of India (ECI) dictates a procedure that allows for matching of the Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) count and votes a candidate has received through EVMs.

This process is observed to ensure there was no discrepancy in these figures, Kulkarni said, while adding that this procedure of comparing the number of votes through VVPAT slips and EVM votes is undertaken before the declaration of the final results.

“There seems to be a lot of misunderstandings among political parties and common citizens regarding EVM. But there is no need for such misunderstandings…When votes are counted and the counting of votes of all EVMs concludes, after that, before the declaration of the result there is a procedure which is prescribed by the Election Commission of India. The procedure says that a lottery is drawn by collecting numbers of all the polling stations in the Assembly constituencies. This lottery is drawn in the presence of the Observer and representatives of all candidates of political parties. Of these, 5 polling stations are selected and VVPAT machines for the 5 polling stations are brought to the counting area. In the presence of everyone, the VVPAT slips are taken out and counted. Which candidate got how many votes as per the slips is counted. This number is matched with the votes voted through EVMs. This is observed that there is no discrepancy in these two figures…The voting in Maharashtra Assembly elections was done in the proper manner by following proper procedure…” Kulkarni said.

Maharashtra Chief Election Office S Chockalingam Rejects Opposition Allegations

Earlier, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) S Chockalingam on Tuesday rejected Opposition allegations regarding the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the Maharashtra assembly elections and said “no mismatch” was found between the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT) slips with their corresponding EVM numbers.

In a statement, the Maharashtra CEO explained that, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, it is mandatory to count VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency.

“VVPAT Slip count of randomly selected five polling stations per Assembly Constituency was conducted on November 23, during the counting procedure, in front of the Counting Observer / Representatives of Candidates. As per that, the slip count of 1440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly Constituencies of Maharashtra State has been tallied with respective Control Unit data,” Chockalingam said.

“There is no discrepancy found between the VVPAT slip count and EVM Control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs,” Chockalingam added.

About The Row

This comes after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners raised questions about the legitimacy of EVMs following their defeat in the Maharashtra assembly election 2024.

The Mahayuti alliance, led by the BJP, secured a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections with the BJP emerging as the largest party with 132 seats in the 280-member Assembly, while its allies–the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, and the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar–won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

However, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a major setback as Congress won only 16 seats, while its alliance partners, Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured just 10 seats.