The Madras High Court on Monday (February 24, 2025) dismissed a writ petition that sought to stall the Mahashivratri celebrations scheduled to be held at the Isha Yoga Centre located on Velliangiri foothills in Coimbatore district on the intervening night between February 26 and 27, 2025.
A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and K. Rajasekar rejected the plea after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) said, Isha Foundation had made seating arrangements for 60,000 people during the 2024 Mahashivratri celebrations and complied with all the pollution norms.
The judges also recorded the submission of Additional Advocate General (AAG) J. Ravindran, representing the TNPCB, that the officials shall keep watch on the ambient noise level during this year’s celebrations as well and check whether it remains within the permissible limit of 75 dB(A).
In his counter affidavit, TNPCB Member Secretary R. Kannan said, the yoga centre had four Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) with a total capacity of 1.725 MLD and they were sufficient to treat the sewage generated by around 6,000 people residing there and about 5,000 to 10,000 people who visit the centre on a daily basis.
For the 2025 Mahashivratri celebration, the yoga centre had been advised to install temporary toilets for the additional crowd and engage tanker lorries to transport the sewage to the STP operated by Coimbatore Corporation. The centre had also been asked to maintain a log book for the transportation.
Though the writ petitioner S.T. Sivagnanam, a neighbouring land owner, had claimed that around seven lakh people had gathered for the 2024 Mahashivratri celebrations, even as per a tweet by Isha Foundation, the TNPCB said, seating arrangement was made for only 60,000 people in 2024.
Therefore, considering sewage generation of 12 litre per capita, the Board said the proposed generation for 60,000 people would be 720 KL, which could be comfortably treated at the Coimbatore Corporation’s STP that had a total capacity to treat 70 MLD but was at present treating only 30 MLD.
Noisa pollution
Insofar as the allegation of noise pollution norms were concerned, the TNPCB told the court the Advanced Environment Laboratory in Coimbatore had conducted ambient noise level survey at five different locations (including the writ petitioner’s premises) around the yoga centre during the 2024 celebrations.
The results showed noise levels were within 75dB(A), which was the standard considered for non-planned areas. The Board said that a similar survey would be conducted during this year’s Mahashivratri celebrations too to find out whether the noise levels remain within the permissible limits.
On his part, senior counsel Satish Parasaran, representing Isha Foundation, told the court the organisers do not use cone speakers at all and that noise limiters were also being pressed into service on its campus to ensure the noise levels remain within the permissible limits.
After taking into account the submissions made by all sides, the judges held they do not find any reason to entertain the present writ petition, especially when a similar writ petition filed by Mr. Sivagnanan, before the 2024 Mahashivratri fesival, was still pending in the High Court.
“Undoubtedly, the law in force is to be scrupulously followed. Public interest is of paramount importance. Clean water, air and controlling of noise pollution is an integral part of right to life and State is duty bound to ensure that the basic rights of the citizens, under the Constitution, are protected,” the judges said.
However, in the present case, since the TNPCB had taken a specific stand that Isha Foundation had followed the pollution norms scrupulously during the 2024 celebrations, there was no need for any interference by the court for the 2025 celebrations merely on the basis of apprehensions, the Bench concluded.
