Date:13/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/13/stories/2008061359321000.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Court guidelines for holding meetings

Special Correspondent

Ensure that the entire portion of the road is not blocked, Bench tells officials

Sufficient passage should be left for movement of pedestrians and vehicles
In no event should such meetings be allowed to continue beyond 10 p.m.

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday said that when granting permission for holding meetings in a public street, the Commissioners of Police and the Chennai Corporation should ensure that the entire portion of the road was not blocked.

Passing orders on a writ petition, the First Bench, comprising Chief Justice A.K.Ganguly and Justice F.M.Ibrahim Kalifulla, said sufficient passage should be left for movement of pedestrians, vehicular traffic and ambulances.

“Traffic hazard”

In his petition, A.Arputharaj, president of the Sri Gajalakshmi Colony Slum Welfare Association, Shenoynagar, sought to restrain the respondents—the Commissioners of Police, the Chennai Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board—from granting permission for public meeting, whether political, religious or otherwise, on Pulla Reddy Road.

The petitioner said the residents were put to great hardship on account of such meetings, which also posed a traffic hazard.

Laying down a seven-point guideline, the Bench said such obstructions should not be allowed to continue for more than three hours at a stretch and should not be allowed during peak or rush hours.

Loudspeakers or amplifiers used for the meetings should not be allowed to play a level higher than the permissible decibel limit under the pollution laws, namely Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) rules 2000.

In no event should such meetings be allowed to continue beyond 10 p.m. After the meeting was over, the parties or organisations, which held the programme, should dismantle the temporary structure and restore the road to its original position, including filling the potholes.

Damages

The Bench said it was open to the Corporation Commissioner to levy such charges or damages in compliance with the relevant statutory rules and the parties holding such meetings should deposit the same before permission was granted.

The Judges said they were passing the order considering the Tamil Nadu government’s submission before the Supreme Court in an earlier case wherein it had stated that its stand was not to allow such meetings on a public road.