AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court refused to intervene in the complaint made by a citizen on Wednesday morning against the state home minister's reported oral instructions to police authorities to allow Navratri festivities beyond midnight. The judges told the complainant to file an FIR or call the police control room to report any violation of the Supreme Court's order on noise pollution.
The complainant submitted to the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee that the garba organizers violate the apex court's directions by playing loud music during garba events beyond permissible time limits.
Meanwhile, state home minister Harsh Sanghavi on Tuesday orally instructed the police department to permit festivities beyond midnight, he submitted. "This is contempt of the court," the complainant said.
Upon the court's query, the complainant said that the garba event at the Riverfront continued beyond midnight. The CJ asked him to file a police complaint against the violators. "There are instructions not to play music after midnight. Violators are normal people. You are vigilant. Go and file a complaint. Call 100 number (police control room)," the CJ told the complainant and suggested that he should file a complaint against the organizers for causing public nuisance. The complainant drew the judges' attention to the maxim written in the courtroom and read it out aloud: "Law is the king of kings. Nothing is mightier than law by whose aid even a weak can prevail over the strong".
The CJ replied, "So you prevail over the strong by making a phone call to the police. There are already orders in this regard. Police authorities are supposed to implement them. If there are violations, report them. The police will take care of them."
The CJ further said, "In every matter, the court is not supposed to intervene. Otherwise, we will become police too. We are not police authorities." Justice Mayee also asked the complainant to bring the violation of court orders to the notice of the police. "This is the only solution. The orders passed by the court will not have meaning unless they are properly implemented. The Supreme Court orders are to be implemented by them and violations are to be brought to their notice only. You file an FIR," he told the complainant.
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