Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Why amplify prayers, asks High Court

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI MARCH 13. Belief in religion is and should remain a private and personal affair. When it crosses the four walls of the house or place of worship, and becomes a public issue, it will be the singlemost important rootcause for all violence, terrorism and strife, said Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam of the Madras High Court.

The judge made the observations while passing orders on a petition filed by the Church of God in India seeking to quash a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority order rejecting its application for regularisation of a prayer hall on the ground of violation of pollution norms.

The organisation had submitted the application seeking to regularise the construction of a prayer hall on its KKR Majestic Colony premises in May 2001.

In July 2002 the application was rejected on the ground that the Church appeal challenging the noise pollution complaints had been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The Majestic Colony Welfare Association itself objected to regularising the structure, stating the Church was `misusing the residential premises as a place for public worship in contravention of the municipal approval plan'. The Church said it had paid Rs. 12,850 towards the requisite fee and a regularisation fee to the CMDA, and that the present petition had nothing to do with the earlier litigation which primarily pertained to noise pollution.

Accepting the contention, Mr. Justice Sivasubramaniam said the only embargo on the petitioner-organisation was the `manner of use of loudspeakers and amplifiers', and it had not been restrained or prohibited from using the premises as a prayer hall.

But, before parting with the case, the judge stressed the need for a `cultured way' of worship.

``God, whichever the religion, is said to be present everywhere and does not require a blaring and deafening amplifier to hear the prayer''.

Noise pollution caused evil and adverse effects on children, aged, sick, pregnant women and the student community. ``Religion is not a trade requiring advertisement by amplifiers''.

``It is a pity that the police and Pollution Control Board authorities are yet to strictly implement the rules and regulations inspite of repeated directions by the court and the Government,'' he lamented.

Stating that even animals, both in the wild and in zoos, ran away from noisy areas, Mr. Justice Sivasubramaniam asked: ``Why we human beings should reduce ourselves to less than animals is the question which the petitioners and their counterparts in other religions should address themselves''.

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