CHENNAI: The Federation of Mosques and the Shariat Protection Forum has appealed to the first Bench of Madras High Court to grant more time to comply with the court directive banning cone speakers.
When a PIL from one S Kumaravelu of Perambur – praying for a directive to the government and the police to implement strictly the July 18, 2005, order of the Supreme Court restricting use of cone speakers – came up before the Bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan on Tuesday, the counsel for the Federation impleaded as a respondent in the PIL, submitted that after the month of Ramzan, the muthavallis would be asked to ensure that the decibel level prescribed by law was not exceeded.
“Keeping in mind this assurance, we are for the time being not extending the active action against the mosques,’’ the Bench said.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the authorities concerned were only concentrating on 44 places originally mentioned in the petition. There were many more institutions where the violation was still taking place. The Bench noted that of the 44 institutions mentioned in the PIL, only 16 were noncompliant. They should be advised immediately to comply within the next three days and ensure that the decibel levels were kept within limits. If still there was no compliance, the authorities would have to seize the speakers, the Bench added and listed the case on July 19. The 44 institutions which were cited in the PIL include temples, mosques, churches, marriage halls and temple festivals, where cone type speakers were used.