HC unplugs silence zones in Mumbai till Monday

With Ganesh Chaturthi beginning today, organisers will be able to play music in silence zones that spread in a 100-metre radius around hospitals, educational institutes and courts.

On Thursday, Justice Abhay Oka of the Bombay High Court, who was hearing a bunch of petitions highlighting the problem of noise pollution in the state, refused to recuse himself from the matter after the state government accused him of bias against it. The matter has been transferred to another Bench, and the next hearing has been posted for Monday. Meanwhile, there will be no silence zones in the state, as the state government is yet to re-notify silence zones following an amendment to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Amendment rules, 2017 by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The state has already informed the Bombay High Court that the earlier silence zones would only be considered as a guiding factor in the re-notification.

State government had earlier told Bombay High Court that it was not binding on it to follow the court order passed last year, which directed it to refuse any permission for use of loudspeakers in deemed silence zones. It contended that by the amendment of August 10 to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Amendment rules, 2017, it had powers to renotify all silence zones.

On Thursday, state moved application before Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, alleging that Justice Oka was 'harboring serious bias' against the state machinery and sought to transfer the cases. Justice Oka refused to be provoked and recuse himself.

In a detailed order, which he sought to be placed before the Chief Justice for her perusal along with the application of the state government, he noted "We are shocked to read all this. We follow consistent tradition of making prima facie view to get the best from advocates across the bar. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni is the leader of the bar. We are sorry to record that the State has bothered to make such a prayer." Justice Oka added, "This is for the first time in my 14-year career as a judge that allegations of bias have been made against me."

The state application for transfer followed the prima facie view taken by the court, which conceded with arguments made by petitioners Awaaz foundation and Dr Mahesh Bedekar that the amendment cannot do away with the deemed silence zones, and the State was duty bound to follow last year's High Court orders.

Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, appearing for Awaaz argued that, "The whole move by the government is fate accomplice to ensure enough noise during Ganpati festival and is politically motivated." Convenor Sumaira Abdulali said, "I will continue to do my job of recording decibel levels during the festival and complain to the police."

The petitions will now be up before a Bench headed by Justice Anoop Mohta on Monday.