No Ganesh idol immersions allowed in Sanjay Gandhi National Park: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the forest department of the Maharashtra government to ensure that there is no immersion of Ganesh idols in water bodies lying within Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) during Ganesh Chaturthi..A bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak granted liberty to the forest officials to take appropriate steps against persons who flout the directions issued by the State with regard to immersion of idols.“We direct direct that the forest dept of state govt shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any activity to enter in the national park for immersion of idols and if any such attempt is made to breach any provisions of law by flouting circulars issued by the State, then the forest authorities are at liberty to take appropriate steps,” the Court directed..The Bench granted an urgent hearing in a public interest litigation seeking directions to restrain individuals from immersing Ganesh idols in water bodies located within the SGNP.The petitioner approached the Court after reading news articles about banners put up by former corporators, which stated that permission for immersions in the water body within the national park has come through and accordingly immersions can take place.They claimed that plain reading of this news item would give an impression to the common man that permission has been granted by the forest authorities to immerse idols in water bodies located inside SGNP..During the course of hearing, the bench remarked that prima facie the news article and the banner mentioned in the same indicated that permission was sought for immersion and the same was granted.“If you are saying that there is no permission, and someone has on his own said this, then you make a statement that there is no permission. The news article shows there is permission. What is an ordinary man supposed to know? That is a straight indication that permission was sought and it was granted for idol immersions in national park,” Justice Varale quipped.However, State counsel Purnima Kantharia pointed out the authorities of the forest department are vigilant enough to prevent any activity causing damage to ecology and wildlife..The Court also read the communications of the State government granting permission to the forest department to install an artificial pond near the entrance gate of the national park and take all possible steps to follow guidelines issued of Maharashtra government.In view of the communications, the Court found no reason to entertain the petition on apprehension of news items.The Bench, however, clarified that in view of the confusion caused by the banner, there might be a large number of people coming for idol immersion. Hence, to prevent damage to wildlife, the State was permitted to deploy additional police force.“In case, if any attempt is made to mislead public at large, by making certain untrue statements, the state govt shall also take appropriate steps to prevent such mischief, by taking recourse to provisions of law”, the Bench added..Advocates Shriniwas Patwardhan, SR Nargolkar, Ketan Joshi, Arjun Kadam and Sudumn Nargolkar appeared for the petitioners. [Read live updates]