BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered the state government to hold an inquiry against the director of Health and Family Welfare Services for allowing a private agency to display ads of corporates in the city, misusing the permission granted to display hoardings to create awareness on Covid-19.
A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi said that it is the duty of the state to recover the ad tax from corporates and remit it to the BBMP.The bench said that the director’s action is a complete violation of the order.
The court had allowed display of Covid awareness messages in response to state’s request. The state had moved the court seeking permission as the court on November 22, 2019 had barred display of ads in Bengaluru without written permission from BBMP.