Twin rule riders for clean walls

The only two laws that could have helped Mamata Banerjee translate her theme for a clean-Kolkata dream into reality no longer exist.

The West Bengal Prevention of Property Defacement Act 1976, which the Left Front government repealed in 2006 to give parties a free run on the city’s walls, needs to be reintroduced for Mamata to stand any chance of reining in the graffiti gangs, including those of her party.

Then there is the amendment to the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act in December last year that took the sting out of Section 202 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act. Till the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, cases for graffiti violations used to be registered under that section.

“Mamata must do away with the amendment so that Section 202 stages a comeback, though that can happen only if Trinamool comes to power,” said a senior official of the Election Commission.

Ironically, Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay was a recent beneficiary of the Left Front’s amendment. The high court dismissed a case of graffiti-without-permission against Bandopadhyay on the ground that the law under which it had been registered — Section 202 of the KMC Act 1980 — is no longer in force.

Advocate Swapan Mallik, who represented the MP, insisted that Justice Asim Roy’s order be treated as a precedent in all other cases of graffiti violation pending in the courts. The high court alone has over 300 such cases.

“It’s a loophole created by the Left Front and used by everyone. All cases filed last year were under the CMC Act. So the offenders are now citing the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act to go scot-free, rendering the CMC Act toothless,” said a legal expert.

The state act was not applicable in Kolkata, Howrah and Chandernagore until the amendment took effect, overriding Section 202 of the KMC Act. The Congress and Trinamool didn’t oppose the change, apparently because they would also benefit from it.

So how does Trinamool see Mamata’s change of heart (and strategy)? “Till Didi took such a strong stand, nobody in the party had paid heed to calls for graffiti-free walls. The issue has to be taken more seriously now,” admitted a party MLA.

But “a mere stand” means little for the house owners who had filed complaints about their walls being defaced in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, only to see the authorities sit on them.

Beleghata resident Binoy Karmakar and three of his neighbours are among the many who have yet to hear from the authorities about the status of their complaints. Sunirmal Mitra of Sovabazar has given up trying to get justice. “I spoke to many of my lawyer friends. They told me that till such time the Property Defacement Act of 1976 was brought back, there would be little chance of legal redress,” Mitra, who works with a private bank, told Metro.

A senior Election Commission official said a blanket ban on graffiti was possibly the only way out. “Anything other than a blanket ban would have loopholes for offenders to wriggle out,” he added.

So would Mamata’s promise of a clean Kolkata remain a pipe dream? “As of now, the Trinamool-run KMC has the people’s mandate and Mamata’s blessings but not the power to wipe the city clean. Maybe things will change after the Assembly elections, though that depends on whether Trinamool wins and its leader remembers her promise,” said an official of the municipal affairs department.


 The Telegraph Metro