The Bombay High Court asked civic bodies and government authorities in Maharashtra to take firm action against organisations which flout noise pollution rules and pull up the trusts and others that illegally put up pandals during the festivals.

The direction was given by a bench of Justices Abhay Oka and V L Achilya, which was hearing a bunch of PILs on the issue of illegal pandals set up across the state during ‘dahi handi’ and Ganesh festivals with noise pollution rules flouted and inaction by the authorities.

The bench was informed by senior advocate Sanjeev Gorwadkar, appearing for one of the petitioners Mahesh Bedekar, that during the recent Ganesh and dahi handi festivals, several pandals had flouted noise pollution rules but no action was taken against them by police and the concerned civic body.

Thereupon, the bench inquired from state government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) lawyers as to what action they proposed to take during the forthcoming Navrati festival this month and other festivals later.

Government pleader Abhinandan Vagiyani informed that the state would issue a Government Resolution a week before the Navarati festival on the issue and carry out inspection to find out the illegal pandals on roads and footpaths.

The court asked the authorities to strictly implement the noise pollution rules during all the festivals so that the public at large is not harassed and the high court orders in this regard are complied with.

The bench had earlier warned of contempt action against officers who do not take action against the offenders who violate noise pollution rules and set up illegal pandals on roads.

Anil Sakhare, counsel for BMC, said 304 illegal pandals were detected during the recently-concluded Ganesh festival and notices were issued to the organisers for recovery of damages suffered.

The court inquired from the government pleader what action had been taken against the BMC officers who did not act against the offenders of noise pollution rules during the Ganesh festival.

“If you do not take any action against such officers, then we shall direct you to do so,” warned the bench.

About noise pollution, the bench asked the authorities to take action not only against pandals but also against the processions of devouts who take Ganesh idols for immersion.

The hearing was adjourned till October 12.

A magistrate’s court extended the judicial custody of Samir Gaikwad, arrested in the Govind Pansare murder case, till October 23, while denying the permission to subject him to brain-mapping test.

During the proceedings, Gaikwad told the court that he was not willing to undergo brain-mapping because his “mental health” wasn’t good.

The lawyer representing the Pansare family said the test can be conducted after his health improved, but Gaikwad remained firm on his stand.

As such tests cannot be conducted without the person’s consent, the court rejected police’s application seeking permission for his brain mapping.

The court also dismissed police’s request for his fresh custody for identification parade.

Gaikwad, a member of right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, was arrested on September 16 in the case. Pansare, a veteran CPI leader, and his wife were shot by two unidentified motorcycle-borne persons in Kolhapur in February. While his wife survived, Pansare died at a Mumbai hospital.

Following strong opposition from environmentalists to the proposed felling of over 2,000 trees in the leafy Aarey Colony for a Metro carshed, an experts’ committee has suggested that Kanjurmarg in north-east Mumbai be used as an alternative site for such a facility.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has accepted the report and will take the final decision in this regard, an official said this evening.

“Many organisations had demanded that the proposed carshed for Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro be shifted to avoid tree-felling on a large scale. The CM set up an experts’ committee in March to look for an alternative,” said the official in the chief minister’s office.

The committee had as its members the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Commissioner UPS Madan, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, Urban Development Principal Secretary Nitin Kareer, scientist Rakesh Kumar from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s SD Sharma and Dr Shyam Asolekar, professor at IIT-Bombay.

The committee examined various alternatives, including Backbay Reclamation, Mahalaxmi Race Course, a plot with Mumbai Port Trust, Bandra-Kurla Complex, the Mumbai University campus at Kalina and Dharavi before finally zeroing in on Kanjurmarg.

This would entail an additional expenditure of Rs. 750 crore.

The committee has advised that the work on the Colaba- Seepz corridor and Jogeshwari-Kanjurmarg corridor should be carried out simultaneously if the carshed is to come up at Kanjurmarg.

The Bombay High Court asked Maharashtra government to take a decision within reasonable time on implementation of the nearly four-decade-old law that makes it legal to run casinos in the state.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing a petition filed by law student Jay Satya seeking a direction to the government to implement Maharashtra Casinos (Control and Tax) Act passed by the Assembly and published in the government gazette in July, 1976.

According to the petitioner, the government has till date not issued a notification implementing the Act.

The High court today said it was the executive’s decision on when and whether to implement the Act but asked the government to take its decision within reasonable time.

Satya found out through the Right to Information (RTI) that the Act had received the Governor’s assent on July 22, 1976. In December last year, he wrote a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis requesting him to notify it but there was no response.

The Act provides for licensing of casinos, permitting certain types of casino games, taxation of the money paid or agreed to be paid by the participants by way of stakes or bets, etc.

Goa and Sikkim are the only two states which currently allow casinos, the PIL says, alleging that the government of Maharashtra has “arbitrarily and unreasonably” kept in abeyance the Act by not notifying it.

The sessions court convicted a city-based film professional for flinging chemical at his former girlfriend and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.

“The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 on Jerrit John, which will be paid to the victim,” said Public Prosecutor Kalpana Chavan.

John owned a production house named ‘No Nonsense’ and had produced-directed television serials. He was arrested on November 12 (and is in jail ever since) after hurling chemical at Aryanka Hosbetkar (26), an international cyclist, at her house in Adarsh Colony in Worli area.

The special women’s court judge Vrushali Joshi convicted John under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 452 (house-trespass for hurt, assault, etc.,) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of Indian Penal Code. However, he was acquitted of the charge of attempt to murder.

According to police, Hosbetkar had returned from a cycling expedition on that day and was with some friends when John barged into house, dragged her upstairs and flung chemical on her face.

The two had had a relationship for some ten months before the incident. But Aryanka had cut him off after learning that he was actually a married man and had a five-year-old son.

Maharashtra government has handed over documents pertaining to the alleged multi-crore scam in state-run Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation to Enforcement Directorate and questioned the role of NCP leader Ajit Pawar in this connection.

Minister of State for Social Justice Dilip Kamble said documents were handed over to the ED, which is examining the case, last Tuesday and that the government was “doubtful” over Pawar’s decision to allocate Rs. 300 crore to the Sathe Corporation three months before Assembly polls last year.

However, former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said there have been no discrepancies and that the “truth will be out for all to see” once the investigation is completed.

NCP leader Ramesh Kadam, former chairman of the Corporation, along with three other accused including his then personnel assistant, his sister and one of his office staff are in judicial custody in connection with the alleged scam.

The state government has handed over the probe in the scam to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Kamble claimed that the scam runs into about Rs 1,000 crore, out of which Rs 500 crore belongs to Sathe Mahamandal (Corporation) and the remaining has been received as grants from the Centre.

“We have handed over the documents to ED as we have to find out the cash flow, transactions with various accounts, purchase of 40 luxury cars and the distribution of cash in Assembly constituencies where NCP had contested the polls last year,” the minister said.

“Kadam had used the funds to live a lavish life, distributed luxury cars to presidents of various organisations working for Matang community so that nobody would raise their voice against him,” he alleged.

Kadam “withdrew Rs 22 crore cash from a nationalised bank on a single day and the CID has got the evidence of the transaction,” Kamble claimed, adding that the agency was probing it.

Hailing Dawoodi Bohra community’s role in the evacuation of Indians from Yemen during ‘Operation Rahat’, Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh today said these “silent workers” did a tremendous job but have not been adequately recognised for their work.

“For evacuating Indians, not only did we get great amount of help from Yemeni authorities who were willing to come to the airport while it was otherwise barren, we also had the Indian Bohra community which provided us volunteers and assisted us in gathering people to come to us,” Singh said.

“These silent workers did a tremendous job and I think nobody seems to have recognised the type of role this little community played out there in ensuring that people could come to the airport, could be ferried to the airport. Word would be passed around to them that aircraft will start landing at so and so time so we want you to come early,” he said.

“They were also ensuring that immigration authorities worked there and assisted us,” the former Army Chief said.

He was speaking at an event in Bombay Stock Exchange where he was felicitated for the success of ‘Operation Rahat’ conducted by the government in April this year.

Describing the challenges that Indian authorities faced while evacuating Indians from the war-torn country, Singh said some people were reluctant to return to India and had to be coaxed to come back.

“Our people who were working there were very happy, except that when the situation went bad they thought it is better that we get evacuated. Otherwise there were a lot of people, for example a bunch of nurses I spoke to said that they are not happy going back. So it was a shock…You are trying to evacuate somebody back home and they are saying I am not happy to go back home,” he said.

“When I asked them why, they said we have a very good job here and we are only going back because our parents are crying at home and asking us to come. They wanted to stay back and I am quite sure by now, they must be already back in Yemen,” he said.

A 54-year-old sweeper was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Thane for raping his 11-year-old daughter in 2013.

Thane sessions Judge VV Virkar convicted the sweeper after he was tried under various sections of IPC and also POCSO Act 2012.

He was also slapped with a fine of Rs. 6,000.

In her submission, prosecutor Ruma Navale told the court that the accused who worked as a sweeper in a housing complex resided at Shivaji Nagar in Turbhe with his three children (two girls and a boy) and his aged mother.

The accused was a widower and an alcoholic, the court was told.

Drunk, the accused used to beat children frequently and abuse them. In early 2013, he allegedly raped his elder daughter who then narrated the ordeal to her grandmother but she asked the victim not to reveal the incident to anyone.

When the sexual abuse was repeated several times in mid-2013, the girl broke her silence before a neighbour who got the two sisters admitted at an orphanage with the help of an NGO but not before filing a complaint with Turbe Police.

The accused was charged under sections 323,376 and 377 of IPC and also sections 4,6,8 of POCSO Act.

Organisers of an event featuring former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, have approached Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking ‘adequate security’ to him after cancellation of Pakistani Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali’s concert.

The Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, along with Nehru Centre and Penguin Books India, is organising a function to launch the book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy’ by Kasuri, in Mumbai on October 12 at the Hall of Culture, Nehru Centre, Worli.

“Our purpose in organising this function is to make our own humble contribution to the much-needed normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. Kasuri’s widely appreciated book shows his strong commitment to peaceful and cooperative ties between our two countries,” ORF Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni said.

“The launch of the book will be accompanied by a panel discussion, in which the speakers are: A G Noorani, eminent jurist, historian and author; Naseeruddin Shah, renowned film and theatre personality; and Dileep Padgaonkar, eminent journalist and columnist,” Kulkarni, who will moderate the talk, said.

During his stay in Mumbai between October 11 and 14, Kasuri, besides attending the book launch function, will also visit Mani Bhavan and Jinnah House if possible, he said.

Kasuri will also meet veteran movie star Dilip Kumar at his residence.

In a letter to Fadnavis, Kulkarni asked the state government to provide adequate and fool-proof security to Kasuri during his stay here.

Security for Kasuri has become all the more necessary in view of the condemnable episode a few days ago when a concert in Mumbai by Ghulam Ali, the famous ghazal maestro from Pakistan, was called off because of the Shiv Sena’s threat to the organisers of the event, he said.