The Bombay high court on Tuesday said that the state government was deliberately delaying the process of procurement of noise measurement meters as it did not want action to be taken against people wh
The Bombay high court on Tuesday said that the state government was deliberately delaying the process of procurement of noise measurement meters as it did not want action to be taken against people who violated noise pollution norms during the Ganesh, Navratri and Diwali festivals. Hence, the court directed additional chief secretary home K.P. Bakshi to remain present before it on October 17.
“In the month of January, we had ordered you (state government) to procure noise meters, but 10 months have passed since and you have not even procured half the number of meters,” said the court. A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing a bunch of PILs against noise pollution. On January 6 this year, the high court had directed the state government to procure 1,843 noise meters. However, till May, the state government had not procured a single meter, following which the court issued contempt notice against Mr Bakshi. However, on July 4, the state government told the court that they had procured 600 noise meters and, within two months, they would get the remaining meters from suppliers. That’s when the court stopped the contempt action against Mr Bakshi.
In the latest hearing on Tuesday, the state government told the court that they needed time till November 10. This irked the court, which said that the state was doing this deliberately. “You have not only disobeyed the order of January but you have not completed what you assured us on July 4,” said the bench. The court kept the matter for hearing on October 17.
