Noise Pollution: Bombay High Court Asks To Implead Mosque Trust Using Loudspeakers For Azan

The Bombay High Court has asked for the Gausiya Mosque Trust in Kandivali to be impleaded as a respondent in a writ petition against use of loudspeakers.

A division bench of Chief Justice RD Dhanuka and Justice GS Kulkarni was hearing an interim application filed by advocate Reena Richard, a resident of Thakur Village in Kandivali East, seeking directions to the Police to take urgent steps to stop noise pollution created by loud-speakers multiple times a day by the Gausiya Masjid. 

The Trust and the State have to file replies to the petition by June 9, and the matter will be heard next on June 19.

Richard has claimed that the area in question is a silence zone due to the presence of ESIS Hospital nearby. However, the police did not take any action on her complaints dated May 8 and May 12 against early morning use of loudspeaker by the mosque.

Senior Advocate Rizwan Merchant for the Mosque Trust submitted that the mosque is not in a silence zone as the hospital has shifted 2.5 kms away.

APP JP Yagnik for the State submitted that the Mumbai police has granted the mosque permission to use loudspeakers till May 31st, subject to certain conditions. The court accepted this statement and directed the State to decide subsequent applications for permission according to law.

The Court also directed the State to annex all relevant government circulars and policies with its reply.

The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 provide that an area within 100 metres of educational institutions, hospitals, and courts may be a silence zone. The Rules were amended in 2017 with a proviso that no area shall fall under silence zone or category unless specifically notified by the State government. 

Earlier, the State had informed the court that the area in question is not a notified silence zone.