The Week That Was: The Bombay High Court

A new sitting list went into effect from this week in the Bombay High Court. With the new Chief justice Manjula Chellur taking charge from Monday, further modifications have already been made to the new list. A detailed order on noise pollution rules was passed at the beginning of the week, although several PILs were listed most of them were adjourned..Here is a look at all that happened at the Bombay High Court this week..Tuesday, August 16.Bombay HC reminds the state to implement Noise Pollution Rules.Justices AS Oka and AA Sayed observed that the state government has failed to ensure compliance of Noise Pollution Rules and concluded its order on the fourth day of pronouncement of a detailed order..The bench noted that although the state government has discretion to permit use of loudspeakers in silent zones, it must apply its mind while granting such permissions. The bench also said.“Any breach of noise pollution rules will be considered an infringement on the fundamental rights of citizens under Article 21 of the constitution.”.The State government has been directed to ensure advertisement of Noise Pollution Rules before festivals every year. All the PILs tagged together in this case have been disposed off, the matter will now be listed for compliance on October 4..Thursday, August 18.Court seeks report from CBI in the Adarsh scam case.Hearing an application filed by Pravin Wategaonkar, AS Oka and AA Sayed JJ has directed the CBI to file a fresh report with regard to prayers in the application in a sealed envelope by next Thursday..The application questions the CBI’s reluctance in investigating the hasty allotment of land in question to Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society. The JA Patil commission report states that this allotment was made at the insistence of the then revenue minister Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil..The applicant has also pointed out other findings of the JA Patil commission report which had conducted an enquiry in the matter. This case will now be heard on Thursday..Saturday, August 20.Sadhvi Pragya moves HC against bail rejection.The 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya has filed an appeal against the sessions court order rejecting her bail application..The National Investigating Agency dropped charges against Pragya under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act. Although other charges against her remain, this was a significant developement in the case. The earlier investigating agency Maharashtra ATS had found Pragya guilty under MCOCA..The sessions court had rejected Pragya’s bail application in June. This matter was listed before the bench of Justices NH Patil and PD Naik but it could not be taken up due to paucity of time.