Nagpur: In an urgent hearing held on Sunday, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court issued a crucial directive concerning the noise-levels of the ‘Dandiya Garba’ event organised by the Ramdaspeth Plot Owners and Residents Association scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
The division bench, comprising Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice M W Chandwani, stressed the need for continuous sound level monitoring during this cultural event and passed an order appointing National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to continuously monitor noise-level during the said event. The court’s order came in response to concerns raised by the counsel representing the petitioners.
Despite explicit court instructions issued on October 20, 2023, the petitioners contended that the permissible sound level limits were being breached during the ‘Dandiya-Garba’ performances. To support their claim, they submitted a brief affidavit along with a report from an expert appointed by them, namely Mahabal Enviro Engineers Pvt Ltd of Nagpur. On the other side, the counsel for respondents (organisers) argued that they had acted on the court’s directives by appointing an independent agency, Nilawar Laboratories, Nagpur, to monitor and report on the periodic sound levels.
The dispute at the heart of the matter revolved around the credibility of these conflicting reports, with neither side finding the other’s evidence acceptable. The Assistant Public Prosecutor representing the State informed the court that the police had also taken noise-level readings on three consecutive days and identified certain violations. Subsequently, a notice was issued, and a hearing took place at the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) on the matter.
After observing the ongoing dispute over the legitimacy of sound level readings, the court proposed a solution. It recommended the appointment of a neutral third party agency to conduct sound level monitoring so that both sides would find the results acceptable. The petitioners’ counsel suggested NEERI to undertake this monitoring task. This proposal was met with no objection from the respondents. Therefore, the court passed an order appointing NEERI to continuously monitor sound levels on October 22 and 23, 2023, with the petitioners covering the cost.
It was instructed that the petitioners communicate this order to NEERI promptly. The APP was directed to ensure that the police take appropriate legal action if any violations are found, as permissible under the law. The court also scheduled a further consideration of the matter for October 25, 2023.
In a previous ruling on October 20, 2023, the High Court had warned the organisers to strictly adhere to the conditions imposed and cautioned that any violations would result in legal actions.
Adv R M Bhangde appeared for the petitioners while Adv V P Ingle and Adv S S Bagga represented the respondent. APP N B Jawade appeared for the State.
