Prayagraj, Feb 19 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a plea for starting contempt proceedings against the Rampur DM and SP for allegedly ignoring a 2015 court order on noise pollution due to the use of loudspeakers by temples and mosques, among others.

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A bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal dismissed the plea saying the time of filing of it indicates that it is a sponsored litigation to affect the communal harmony in Uttar Pradesh amid the state assembly elections.

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Junking the plea early this week on Tuesday, the bench said, “The timing of the contempt application is when the state is going through the assembly elections and it seems that the present application is a sponsored litigation to affect the communal harmony of the state, keeping in mind the state elections.”

“This court finds that no case of indulgence is made out as the court cannot be a party to such action of any individual which tries to destabilise the communal harmony of the state,” the court ruled.

The petition to initiate the contempt proceeding against Rampur District Magistrate Rabindra Kumar Mander and the district police superintendent was filed by Rampur resident Islamuddin, who had accused the two officers of “wilfully disobeying” the high court's order on public interest litigation on April 15, 2015.

The court in its order had directed the district administration of Rampur and the Regional Pollution Control Board (RPCB) to ensure that there is no noise pollution by the use of loudspeakers or any other device causing noise pollution beyond the prescribed standard in the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.

In his petition, Islamuddin said some people began using loudspeakers in temples and mosques in 2021, leading to noise pollution.

In his petition, Islamuddin said he was moving the court seeking compliance of its April 2015 order and to punish the authorities concerned which disobeyed the court's order.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)