PANJIM: In the strongest possible order which questions and past and puts a firm hand on the present, the Bombay High Court in Goa, has declared that permissions given to the controversial Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Festival Sunburn in 2022 were illegal. This is also an indictment of the state government which gave those permissions.
The order pronounced by a bench of Justice S SONAK & BHARAT P DESHPANDE was earlier reserved on July 25, in a PIL filed by Rajesh Sinary against various arms of the state government as well as M/s Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd, organisers of the Sunburn festival.
The petitioner in his public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition had challenged the permission dated December 28, 2022 issued to M/s Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd to hold the Sunburn EDM festival at Vagator from December 28 to 30 and that the organisers had breached the terms and conditions of the permission by exceeding with impunity the noise levels prescribed in the permission and the rules.
“It is declared that the permission dated December 28, 2022, issued to R-10 (Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd) for holding the Sunburn EDM festival from December 28 to 30, 2022 was illegally issued and consequently, the said permission was illegal and liable to be quashed and set aside,” stated the Court order.
The Division bench comprising Justice Mahesh S Sonak and Justice B P Deshpande stated that the government should immediately constitute a Joint Special Cell comprising high-ranking officials from the Goa police, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) and the SDM/Collector which will ensure that the permissions are granted for such mega events by the notified Action Plan.
The Court also asserted that the organisers of such mega events should scrupulously comply with the terms and conditions by which such permissions are granted. In its order, the Court also stressed the need for teaching civic sense to children at an early age and adding suitable chapters in textbooks about the hazardous effects of noise pollution.
The Sunburn promoter company has been asked to pay costs of Rs 25,000 to the petitioner.
The Court further stated that the State government must consider whether applications of parties that hold events or functions by breaching the terms and conditions subject to which such permissions are granted or the Noise Pollution Rules be considered in future.
The Court stated that if Spacebound Web Labs Pvt Ltd or any organisers propose to hold the Sunburn music festival in 2023, then high-ranking police officials, officers from GSPCB and the Collector/Deputy Collector must remain present at the venue to monitor compliances. The police officials and the GSPCB officials must coordinate with each other so that there is no recurrence of what happened on December 28 and 30.
If the authorities find noise pollution levels are being exceeded or breached, they should immediately halt the event and seize the sound-generating equipment. In addition, the authorities must take all measures to ensure that the noise pollution levels are not breached at any such level.
The State government is directed to comply with the directions issued by the Supreme Court regarding noise pollution and to make these interim directions absolute to any future events that the Spacebound Web Labs Ltd may hold or to the Sunburn music festival if held by some other party.
The Sunburn promoter company has been asked to pay costs of Rs 25,000 to the petitioner Rajesh Sinary of Anjuna.
