BENGALURU: Playing songs and delivering speeches on
loudspeakers till midnight on patriotic days
will no longer amount to infringement of the right to sleep.
According to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Amendment Rules 2017, notified by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change on Thursday, the use of loudspeakers and other public address systems is allowed from 10pm to 12am on festive occasions, including any national or state functions. The new rules describe “national or state function” as
Independence Day, Republic Day, State Day (referring to formation days) and any other day as notified by the Centre or the respective state governments. TOI has accessed a copy of the new rules.
Changes to this effect have been made to the rules that were originally framed in 2000 and subsequently amended in 2011. While the original notification banned the use of loudspeakers or public address system at night in open spaces, Rule 5 (2) allowed state governments to permit use of loudspeakers between 10pm and midnight on or during “any cultural or religious festive occasion of limited duration not exceeding 15 days in all during a calendar year.”
However, the state governments, including Karnataka, had imposed a blanket ban on use of loudspeakers after 10pm following complaints about sound pollution from resident welfare groups and senior citizens. In fact, the Supreme Court too recently observed noise as a major pollutant and stated that freedom from such pollution was part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
An official from the
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
, which monitors sound pollution levels, said: “Loudspeakers are usually used at night during Ganesha Chaturthi and Diwali. But the Centre’s decision to allow
loudspeakers till midnight
during Republic Day and Independence Day sounds a bit odd. We do not know why anyone would use loudspeakers till midnight on such days.”
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