HC slams police over failure to act against noise plaints, again

THE POLICE TOLD THE HC BENCH THEY HAD RECEIVED 22 COMPLAINTS FROM ALL OVER MUMBAI

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday reprimanded the Mumbai Police for not complying with an earlier order, which sought details of the action that would be initiated against officers who did not take action against noise pollution.

In their affidavit, the police said they had received 22 complaints — of which 10 were forwarded to Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and 12 were being probed by them.

When the petitioner said rather than initiating action on their own, the police were shrugging of their responsibility and misleading the court, the court asked the police to file a fresh affidavit after rejecting the one they had submitted.

The division bench of justices AS Oka and MS Sanklecha, while hearing compliance of orders in a bunch of public interest litigation (PILS), was informed by the police that they had received 22 complaints from various areas in Mumbai and were in the process of receiving and processing other complaints.

Advocate Rohan Cama, representing Awaaz Foundation, informed the court that the police had identified the 22 cases on their own and not based on complaints filed by individuals or organisations.

He informed the court that rather than initiating action, the police had simply forwarded 10 complaints to the MPCB. He questioned the statement of the police that they were investigating the remaining 12 complaints, stating that the same was identified by them hence there was no question of an investigation.

“The police has been giving such statements for the past twoand-a-half years and have misled the court,” said Cama.

He added the affidavit had failed to enumerate what action was taken against police officers who had wilfully violated court orders and to state the kind of action that would be taken despite the court categorically asking for it in the previous order.

Taking cognisance of the submissions, the court expressed its dissatisfaction with the affidavit filed by the police and directed state pleader Abhinandan Vagyani to ensure a fresh affidavit, which replied to the allegations of the petitioners and gave specific statements with regards to the orders of the court, was filed on March 15. The matter will be heard on March 20.