All-night concert not violation of poll code: Court

BENGALURU: It is not just politicians who face the music from Election Commission officials, even musicians do. Sample this: A Dakshina Kannada-based music school approached the Karnataka high court stating that it had been denied permission to conduct a classical music concert because of the election code of conduct.
The court, however, gave the green signal for the concert on Friday with the rider that the noise from the speakers would be "kept at a comfortable level."
Sunada Sangeetha Kala Shale, an academy for Indian classical music in Puttur, Dakshina Kannada district, had planned to conduct a 24-hour-long concert on Saturday and Sunday to mark the school's silver jubilee celebration.
However, its principal Eshwar Bhat got a shock when the Puttur police denied permission over the use of speakers during night (from 10pm to 6am) and directed the former to obtain permission from the election officer in view of the moral code of conduct. The school maintained that the concert was being held in the banquet hall within the school and not in an open arena. But the police inspector directed the school authorities not to use loud speakers at night and to get a clearance from the election authorities for conducting the programme. With persuasion not yielding any result, the school approached the HC.
The school authorities told the court that it is extremely difficult to conduct a music concert without speakers and, moreover, they were doing it in a closed space on their premises. Moreover, the concert was being organised to showcase the talent of the students to the audience and it was a cultural programme and has nothing to do with elections.
Justice Raghavendra S Chauhan, in his order, allowed the concert and asked organisers to keep the volume of loud speakers between 10db and 75db and also pointed out there was no reason to go to the local election officer for permission.