Gujarat High Court on Thursday told the state government that it should ensure that people from all walks of life enjoyed Navratri celebrations. The HC said this while hearing a public interest litigation filed by the Gandhinagar Bar Association (GBA) challenging the commercialisation of Navratri and also requested for the implementation of noise pollution rules.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice JB Pardiwala, ordered the government lawyer to find out the instructions in this regard and give a reply by Friday.
The HC also asked the Gandhinagar district superintendent of police to immediately deploy a police officer to implement the noise pollution rules and in case of any violation, people should lodge a complaint with him. The court further stated that the appointed officer’s name and number should be published in the print and electronic media, too.
Earlier, the high court had issued specific instructions in this regard in connection with Junagadh and Surendranagar districts. So, why not apply the same to other districts, it wondered.
Dipen Dave, representing GBA vice-president Chintan Trivedi, said the Supreme Court had laid down guidelines to control noise pollution and prohibited the use of loudspeakers past midnight. The apex court had even said that the police should implement noise pollution rules in every area and that the people had the liberty to lodge a complaint in case they were violated.
The petitioner also drew the attention of the court to the issue that despite Navratri being a religious festival or even otherwise, there was a blatant attempt of late to commercialise such festivals by hiking the rates of passes and tickets for garba. And, due to this crass commercialisation, the poor people were not being able to enjoy the festival. So, by allowing such activities, the state was discriminating between the rich and the poor. The HC told the government that this should not be allowed to happen. People as a whole had the right to enjoy this religious festival equally and no one could deprive them of it.
The petitioner further argued that any residence or housing society of Gandhinagar was always affected by noise pollution post mid-night during Navratri. Moreover, at most of the public places in Gandhinagar, prices of tickets to attend a garba programme were frightfully expensive during the festival.
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