Written by: Prashant Jaiswal (Intern)
Edited by: Anubhav Yadav (Content Head & Developer)
Introduction
Noise Pollution is always an alarming issue for the country like India and the Indian Government always take steps to curb this menace. The Government has laid down the permissible limit for noise levels in India according to different areas for both night and daytime. For commercial areas, the acceptable limit is 65dB and 55dB whereas for residential areas, it is 55 dB and 45 dB during daytime and night respectively.
Observation of Court
On 10th August 2021, Allahabad High Court asked the U.P. government to file an affidavit that shows the steps taken to control the peril of noise pollution generated from the 2 or 4 wheeler vehicles with modified silencers.
The Bench consisting of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh has ordered the State Govt. and big officials of the U.P. Govt. to mention their replies and scheduled a further hearing on August 27. Bench compared the noise pollution with Hydra to depict the impact of noise pollution. In July 2021, Allahabad High Court took suo moto cognizance of the noise pollution emanating from the modified silencers particularly Bullet and the remaining two-wheelers. Justice Abdul Moin in the judgment pointed out that the noise problem is similar to Hydra as if anyone tries to behead the Hydra and realized that when one head is chopped, the other two heads would come out from the fresh wounds, so much so that the destruction of the Hydra became one of the 12 Labour of Hercules.
The Court further stated that noise pollution is prevalent due to the modified mufflers on the silencers of the new era, 2 wheelers which are running on the roads of the state. The court particularly refers to the Bullet bikes for increasing noise pollution on the streets due to loud noise from silencers. Court blames the bike riders for opting for the modified silencers with so much loud noise that a vehicle noise can be heard hundreds of meters away which can cause havoc to the old age, infirm persons, young children and those who may need silence. According to section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 customizing the silencer of the 2 wheeler or driving vehicle by removing or altering the noise muffler is punishable.
Previous Decisions of Court On Noise Pollution
The court while referring to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 observed that State governments are mandated to take steps for mitigating noise which also includes noise emanating from vehicular movements. The Court further added that when the concerned authorities are not paying heed to the matter, then the court will come forward to take the notice of noise pollution which is being caused through the driving vehicles and thus the Court took sou moto of the aforesaid noise pollution.
The Earlier division bench of High Court, in the Case of Moti Lal Yadav V. State of UP and others has raised the issue of noise pollution caused by the loudspeakers. On the same issue, the state government came forward and brought out a government order in 2018 to control the issue of noise pollution. The PIL is still pending for hearing before the court.