CUTTACK: Religious festivities cannot become a reason to completely block public roads or deny residents access to their homes, the Orissa High Court has observed, directing the government to ensure adequate space for vehicular movement, emergency services and compliance with prescribed noise limits while permitting temporary puja structures across the state.
Disposing of a PIL, a division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo asked the government to ensure permission for community festivals does not result in complete disruption of traffic or denial of access to residents.
Sarat Kumar Gajendra, an 81-year-old resident of Badagada in Bhubaneswar had filed the PIL on Sept 15, 2025, alleging that temporary structures erected for Ganesh Puja and Durga Puja, along with musical programmes, dance and orchestra performances, blocked a public road for around 10 days, leaving him unable to access his house.
In its October 16 judgement, uploaded on the court website on October 18, the bench said: “The Government should ensure that there is no complete disruption in the movement of the vehicles nor the person should be denied a passage for ingress and egress.”
Responding to the PIL, the state authorities had submitted affidavits stating that the puja pandals were not allowed to block the road entirely and that a 22-foot passage was left for vehicular movement.
Additional government advocate Debashis Tripathy represented the state. Although the petitioner, appearing in person, strongly disputed the government’s stand, the bench said it considered it appropriate to accept a statement that appeared reasonable when the competing claims were based on affidavits.
The court, however, underlined that the issue raised by the petitioner could not be ignored. It said adequate distance must be maintained to facilitate movement of emergency vehicles so that essential services could reach people during emergencies.
The bench also directed the government to ensure adherence to permissible sound limits and prescribed deadlines for festive activities. It stressed that a congenial religious atmosphere should be maintained at temporary pandals.
Temporary structures erected on public roads must also be of such dimensions that they do not infringe upon people’s right to move freely, the court said, adding that reasonable restrictions were permissible only when adequate space was left for traffic.
While declining to issue a direction to stop the religious ceremonies, the bench said larger public interest should prevail over individual concerns without curtailing community celebrations altogether.
