HC slams Maha govt for not acting on noise pollution cases

The Bombay High Court today came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for not attending to public complaints about violation of noise pollution rules, saying there was hardly any compliance by the authorities in this regard.
Going through the affidavit filed by the Maharashtra government, a division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka noted that of the 61 complaints pertaining to noise pollution in Mumbai, the police had acted only in 11 cases.
There was hardly any compliance with the high court orders of August 10, August 11, August 12 and August 16, 2016 pertaining to implementation of noise pollution rules.

In these orders, the high court had asked the government to enforce the noise pollution rules.
Today, the bench noted, on going through the government affidavit, that hardly any compliance had been made by the state in this regard.
The judges also noted that the government had asked the Assistant Commissioners of Police in suburban Borivali and Ulhasnagar region of nearby Thane district to take action against the violators of noise pollution rules but they had not acted on the public complaints.

"No panchnama was drawn after the complaints were filed. Also, there was no decibel meters available to measure noise levels. In such cases, the offenders would ultimately get acquitted," the bench observed.

The judges issued notices to the ACPs of Ulhasnagar and Borivali for failing to take action against the offenders in cases of violation of noise pollution rules.
The bench also asked the Maharashtra Chief Secretary to look into the earlier orders passed by the high court with regard to implementation of noise pollution rules and decide what steps the government proposes to take.
The bench also asked the Chief Secretary to hold a meeting with officers concerned if necessary and file an affidavit on December 17.
The high court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations filed by Awaz Foundation and others seeking implementation of noise pollution rules and regulations.

The earlier orders of the high court had asked the authorities to draw a panchnama in a case of public complaint about violation of noise pollution rules, monitoring of noise decibel levels by meters and deputing officers to the spots where complaints have been filed.