Bombay High Court Dismisses PIL Seeking Uniform Rules For Ganesh Chaturthi Celebration
The high court dismissed the PIL while stating that an earlier similar PIL had also been dismissed since there were no incidents pointed out in it.
A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne has recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking uniform rules for Ganesh Chaturthi Utsav as per traditional practices and directions for safety measures for the public gathering at Ganpati worship place.
The court said that no instances were placed on record to show where safety measures were not taken. Further, the petitioner had also not suggested any measures for safety during such festivals.
The order also said that the same petitioner, Pushkaraj Shekherrao Indurkar, had filed a plea before the high court for action against unregistered Ganpati Mandals in 2016.
“Earlier PIL filed by the present Petitioner bearing PIL No.149 of 2016 seeking directions not to give permission for celebrating Ganpati festival to the unregistered Ganpati Mandals and take action against Ganpati Mandals for collecting donation, so also, to frame guidelines for safety of the gathering people at Ganpati festivals, is rejected under order dated 2 nd September 2016,” Court noted.
While dismissing the plea in 2016, the high court had noted that there was no mention of a particular incident. In 2016, a bench of the then Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice MS Sonak had said,
“On going through the reliefs sought in the petition on the averments in support of the prayers, we are of the opinion, there is no mention about particular incident with reference to the guidelines already said to have been issued in the light of the judgment dated 23rd April 2015 in PIL No.148/2009”
In the petition filed in 2016, the petitioner had also sought directions to the local bodies and Grampanchayat to make available the lake or tank for the immersion of the God Ganpati ceremony. It also sought directions to be issued to frame rules to profess, practice, and propagate religion as per the tradition of Hindu rituals and religious conformity
The court while dismissing the 2022 petition said that in the earlier and the current PIL, no instances were pointed out and for the same purpose the second PIL was untenable.
Case Title: Pushkaraj Shekherrao Indurkar vs State of Maharashtra & Ors