BREAKING : Supreme Court Sets Aside Allahabad High Court's Blanket Ban On DJ Services In Uttar Pradesh

The  Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the 2019 order of the Allahabad High Court imposing a blanket ban on the use of DJ services in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

A Division Bench of Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari clarified that music/DJ can be played only in accordance with law and after obtaining the requisite license/permission from the concerned authorities.

The court said that, since there were neither pleadings nor any prayer with regard to the playing of music or DJ in public place, the direction of the High Court with regard to the noise generated by DJ and restriction on playing music, cannot be justified.

"The Writ Petition having been filed for a particular cause and with a particular prayer cannot be expanded to cover within its ambit all the issues which may be of general or public importance without there being any pleadings or prayer with regard to a particular issue. In our view, no such directions could have been issued, especially in a private litigation which was not in the nature of Public Interest Litigation. We say so, particularly, because prior to passing any such order of public  importance, the affected parties should be impleaded, at least in a representative capacity, which is not done in the present case. The appellants herein are the affected parties who were neither impleaded nor given any opportunity to present their case.", the bench observed.

The Petitioners in the proceedings before the High Court had complained of indiscriminate use of Loudspeaker in their neighbourhood. In the writ petition filed by them, the High court passed the following direction:

"Under the Rules, 2000, no permission for DJ shall be granted by the authority for the reason that noise generated by DJ is unpleasant and obnoxious level. Even if they are operated at the minimum level of the sound it is beyond permissible limits under the Schedule of the Rules, 2000. A DJ is made up of several amplifiers and joint sound emitted by them is more than thousand dB (A). They are serious threat to human health particularly children, senior citizens and patients admitted in the hospitals."

The appeal challenging this order was filed by individuals, claiming to be professional DJ players. They had contended that the HC direction was violative of Article 19 of the Constitution inasmuch as it did not allow operation of DJs, even at minimum level, thus rendering them unemployed.

The Supreme Court had on 18th November 2019 effectively stayed the order of the Allahabad High Court which imposed blanket ban on the use of DJs. 

Case: Sachin Kashyap vs. Sushil Chandra Srivastava [CA 2691 OF 2021]
Coram: Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
Citation: LL 2021 SC 308

Click here to Read/Download Order