The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday described as “ridiculous” the claim of the Director-General and Inspector General of Police that 143 noise meters were enough for the entire State as there were only 143 Deputy Superintendents of Police/Assistant Commissioners of Police authorised to take action under the provisions of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.
Pointing out that Dy. SPs/ACPs have jurisdiction over several police stations, the court said it was not at all practical to have noise meters based on the number of such officers when for Bengaluru city itself more than 100 noise meters were said to have been procured.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order while hearing PIL petitions, through which the court is monitoring the enforcement of the provisions of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules.
As it was pointed out that there were discrepancies in the number of noise meters procured by the authorities, the Bench directed the DG&IGP to file an affidavit stating the number of noise meters procured and to also submit a practical estimation of the number of noise meters required for the entire State for effective enforcement of the rules.
