MUMBAI: In a move that comes as a relief, during the fourth virtual Bombay high court hearing, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCMG) has asked media owners to stop displaying awareness messages around Covid2019 on its OOH properties.

In the month of March, MCMG had mandated all hoarding owners to feature messages around the pandemic to raise public awareness. However, while the duration of the messages was supposed to be 10 days, the campaigns continued for almost three months, free of charge.

During the hearing, the council of MCMG also said that they would need some more time to come to a conclusion on the compensation charges which are to be applied on the non-payment of licence fees. On the matter of licence fee payment, the civic body has filed its reply to the Bombay High Court. However, it has not been disclosed yet. The next hearing will take place on Friday, 19 June.

The OOH players who appealed for the waiver of the licence fee are- Creation Publicity Pvt Ltd, Bright Advertising Pvt Ltd, Orion Advertisers, Anurag Sites, Em Vee Advertising Company, Pingle Outdoor, Yoag Advertisers and Pioneer Publicity Corporation Ltd.

The outdoor industry which has already suffered huge losses and has also not been compensated is also looking for some relief after the next hearing.

In May, the high court issued an interim order instructing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to not impose a licence fee on hoardings for May in the wake of the losses suffered by OOH players due to the pandemic.