10 November 2004Mr. A N Roy
Commissioner of Police, MumbaiDear Mr. Roy,
You would recall the seminar "Towards Noise Free Mumbai" yourself, Mr. Kashyap DGP, Mr. Ahmed Javed JCP L&O and Mr. Satish Mathur JCP Traffic had attended and were panelists. I had sent my lengthy response to you by email and the same is now put on the website http://personal.vsnl.com/aspirations. I hope you have had time to go through it as it covers wide aspects of the Noise we are trying to curb.
Keeping this in the background, I send below my reaction to a press report that appeared in the Times of India (10 Nov. 2004). I would appreciate if Police not only did the right thing but also appeared to be doing so. For example, if the function "Cine Kalakar Rajani" held at Brabourne Stadiaum on 9 November 2004 was monitored for the decibel levels throughout the duration of the programme, kept the noise level within the permissible levels and then publicize this aspect, I am sure the law enforcing agency would have gained much respect from the public and the judiciary (see last paragraph of Landmark Judgment... above website) and most important, it would have given proper direction to uncivil elements of the society, a society that is struggling to maintain civility.
There is no doubt that use of loudspeakers on the lawns of Bombay High Court by the Bar Council on 10 January 2004 seemed to have flouted the Silence Zone criteria, but the High Court order of 19 December 2003 amply clarified that the rule of not exceeding the decibel limits be followed and they in fact did adhere to that. Please refer to the above website.
I do not know whether any such monitoring was done at all, so I cannot find fault, but the fact that the press coverage of the event gave an adverse headline and coverage of your statement, it does not help in the cause of reducing noise. After all Police as much said at the seminar that citizen's voluntary compliance would help in the matter!
I leave you with my noting on the event at Brabourne stadium.
Regards
Sudhir Badami
If I recall correctly, the erstwhile test cricket pitch was 85 yards from the boundary Add another 25 yards to the end of the stadium and you have approximately 100 m to the residences around the Brabourne Stadium. Now, there are a few points to note: --------------------------------
1. In accordance with the amendment to the Noise Rule 2000 made on 11 October 2002, there are 15 days in a year that a state government can grant permission to use of loudspeakers in the open in public. These dates have to be previously notified. These 15 days were notified by GoM on 7 April 2003 for the year 2003. However, the amendment was felt to be having no legal sanctity and to that end, a PIL is pending in the Bombay High Court challenging the GoM notification and the amendment of 11 October 2002 itself. Neither the GoM nor GoI filed an affidavit when so asked for by the Bombay High Court (see B-HC order of 25 August 2003 - http://personal.vsnl.com/aspirations). Final hearing of the PIL is still pending, meanwhile various interim orders of Bombay High Court has been emphasizing that the provisions of the Noise Rule be followed. The GoM notification for specifying the 15 days have not been made to best of my knowledge. These dates are necessary to be notified every year as the dates of religious dates, barring for Chistian faith, do not follow the Solar Calendar and changes year after year.
Since there was no such notification by GoM for this year (2004), the extension of 10 PM deadline was flouted randomly during the Ganesh and Navaratri festivals. There have been flouting of this deadline throughout the year on one pretext or the other at one place or the other by someone or the other by simply saying that "they have been given the permission by GoM who have the discretionary powers to do so".
2. Even if the permission is granted by law, the criteria that has to e followed is maintenance of noise level. The decibel level must be kept within the limits for the zone a location comes within, irrespective of whether or not loudspeakers and drums are to be used in the open or have the programme within an acoustically enclosed auditorium.
3. It would be helpful to understand that the primary reason for the Noise Rule's coming into being is to protect people's health as it is a fact people have started to experience and understand that noise is health hazard, it is an assault on every living being.
4. The deadline for the use of loudspeakers is 10 PM and not 10:30 PM as many times media reports consequently wrongly understood by people.
5. Keeping these aspects before us, I would like you to react to the press report "Police have a blast till midnight" that appeared in the Times of India dated 10 November 2004. I reproduce the report below.
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Police have a blast till midnight
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 02:06:17 AM ]
MUMBAI: The police recently played spoilsport at a church wedding in Wadala as the loudspeakers blared well beyond the supreme court deadline of 10 pm. But when it came to their own grand function at Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday evening, the rules took a backseat as more than a thousand policemen and their family members sat enthralled as a spectacular stage performance put up by Bollywood stars—from superstars Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Govinda to young heartthrobs Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan— went on until about midnight.
When a correspondent from this paper contacted police commissioner A N Roy after the stipulated deadline of 10.30 pm,Roy said that they had special permission from the state government to extend the deadline until 12 midnight. There is nothing illegal about it," he added. It is learnt that the state government has the discretion to extend the deadline on a few days the year, including two days during Navratri and one for Ganeshotav. Even as a spectator at the show wondered aloud why the police had to treated differently, a police officer told TOI, All year round we are so busy. It is only once in while that we get to enjoy an event like this." Meanwhile, the star performers were dropping hints about the 10.30 deadline.
Singer Shaan who sang ‘Its time to disco’, commented, Perhaps it’s the time to khisko." Comedian Johnny Lever said at 10.30, "Yeh mat samjho inko band karne koi nahin aaega. In ke peechce CBI padi hai." Actor Sajid Khan at 10.40 pm said, "Well, its 10.40 and the show is still on". The Bollywood night was a part of the Diwali Melava 2004, a series of programmes organised by the police during Diwali every year for its own staff and "special" guests. Several mediapersons were also present at this colourful programme which, for the first time, was being held at a stadium. The programme, ‘Cine Kalakar Rajni’, had chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chief guest and deputy chief minister R R Patil as guest-of-honour. Also present were former state home minister
Chhagan Bhujbal.(The names highlighted are expected to be knowledgeable and responsible citizens - the highlighting is not of the press report)
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