Bombay High Court stays noise rules amendment

The Bombay HC yesterday ordered an interim stay on the enforcement of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) rules, amended by Centre recently, which resulted in eliminating 1,573 notified 'silence zones' in Mumbai ahead of the festival season

Representational picture

The Bombay HC yesterday ordered an interim stay on the enforcement of Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) rules, amended by Centre recently, which resulted in eliminating 1,573 notified 'silence zones' in city ahead of the festival season.

A full bench of Justices Anoop V Mohta, A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla held that the amendment was prima facie "unconstitutional" and violated the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.

The stay order restores the "position prior to August 10 notification (amending the rules)", the bench said.

On August 10, the Centre had issued a notification amending the rules, making states responsible for specifically notifying silence zones in their jurisdiction. The Maharashtra government, however, decided against immediately notifying existing silence zones afresh, in effect doing away with noise restrictions near schools, hospitals, courts and religious shrines among other places.

1,573
Number of notified 'silence zones' eliminated

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