CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday refused to restrain Isha Yoga Centre from going ahead with its much-advertised Maha Shivarathri festivities on February 26 and 27, 2025 in its premises in Coimbatore.
A division bench of justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar dismissed the petitions filed by ST Sivagnanan, who owns a piece of land adjacent to the premises. He had sought a direction to the authorities concerned to ensure Isha took measures to deal with noise pollution and to avoid the discharge of sewage into the adjacent agricultural land before granting permission for the event.
“The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has stated that Isha is complying with the norms and conducting the programme inside the campus and it may not cause any noise pollution to the people residing outside the campus,” the bench noted.
Stating that the petitioner, except for raising apprehensions, had not established any right to grant an injunction against Isha from conducting the Maha Shivarathri festival, the bench reasoned that the court did not find any acceptable ground for interference.
The petitioner had alleged that the Isha Centre was flouting the norms governing noise pollution by using blaring loudspeakers all through the night and by discharging sewage into the agricultural land.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, representing the government, submitted a counter-affidavit on behalf of the TNPCB.
It said the Isha Yoga Centre has a total sewage treatment capacity of 1,725 KLD which is adequate to handle the sewage (0.648 MLD) generated from 6,000 people who regularly stay and work in the premises and the sewage of 0.12 MLD generated from the daily visitors ranging from 5,000 to 10,000. The treated sewage is utilized on their own land for irrigation/gardening.
To handle the sewage generated on the Maha Shivarathri festival, the Centre has provided temporary toilets and the collected sewage will be transported to the sewage treatment plant maintained by the Coimbatore municipal corporation, the counter-affidavit stated.
On the alleged noise pollution, TNPCB informed that the ambient noise level recorded last year was well within the standard of 75 dB (A) prescribed by the Board.
Senior counsel Sathish Parasaran appeared for Isha Yoga Centre while advocate Yogeshwaran represented the petitioner.