Mumbai Air Pollution is being compounded by routine breaches of festival noise and firecracker curbs, the Bombay High Court has said, directing the Commissioner of Police to brief every police station head, frame a Standard Operating Procedure and file an affidavit.
Mumbai: Three bodies have been pulled up by the Bombay High Court, the Mumbai Police, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), for not acting on its earlier directions on festival noise and street firecrackers. The Court recorded that “the wheels of the official machinery appear to be turning too slowly” even for basic preliminary compliances [In Re: Noise and Environmental Pollution].
The order of October 21, 2026 came from a Division Bench of Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Dr. Justice Neela Gokhale in Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation No. 1 of 2026. That case is being heard together with an intervenor’s interim application and applications in PIL No. 85 of 2007.
In court: a sea breeze and a hazy sky
In oral remarks at the hearing, Justice Kulkarni called the situation shocking, saying Mumbai has a sea breeze and open spaces and its skies should be clear. The Bench voiced concern that the city was surpassing Delhi in pollution levels and pointed to visibility having dropped below 500 metres on Tuesday.
What the written order records
Not even the basic notices required by paragraph 17(iii) of the October 15 order had been issued, the Bench noted, and it observed:
“We find that, despite the aforesaid orders passed in the present proceedings, the wheels of the official machinery appear to be turning too slowly to comply even the basic preliminary compliances as ordered by the Court.”
As for the police, the Court said it was not known whether its orders had even reached the officers in charge of police stations. No action was being taken on obtaining prior permission for music systems in processions, with an undertaking to follow decibel limits, and the burning of firecrackers on busy public streets was not being controlled. It recorded:
“There appears to be routine violations of the orders passed by this Court, particularly in relation to processions (supra) and burning of firecrackers on public streets.”
ALSO READ: Bombay High Court Extends Firecracker Ban On Streets To All Festivals Throughout The Year
An SOP, a sworn confirmation and a Saturday deadline
The Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, is to call a meeting of all officers in charge of police stations, put the Court’s orders before them and prepare an SOP on action against violations. They are to be told in particular to enforce the bar on processions using sound systems without a licence on display and the total ban on bursting firecrackers on public streets. An affidavit from the Commissioner must confirm that all station heads and the relevant police machinery have been apprised and that the orders will be implemented in letter and spirit.
The Bench also warned the police about accountability:
“Any dereliction on the part of the police machinery in this regard, adversely affecting the rights of citizens guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, shall be viewed seriously in the concerned police officials to be held accountable, if appropriate action is not taken against the erring persons.”
The Additional Government Pleader and counsel for the MPCB told the Court that awareness notices were being finalised. Accepting that statement, the Court directed the authorities to publish them and put them out on social media platforms no later than Saturday, October 24, 2026. The Municipal Commissioner and the Police Commissioner are to file affidavits on or before the returnable date, and the matter is listed on October 26, 2026 at 3.00 p.m.
The orders it builds on
The suo motu case deals with public nuisance from amplified music systems and firecrackers on streets during festivals. On September 22, 2026 the Bench banned the bursting of firecrackers on public streets during festivities and set out controls on loudspeakers. On October 15, 2026 it made the street ban applicable throughout the year and to all festivals, and added a complete restraint near silence zones such as hospitals, courts, schools and government offices.
The October 15 order also required the BMC and the MPCB to jointly issue public notices on the harm caused by firecracker toxicity, set up awareness mechanisms within a week, create complaint channels with dedicated phone numbers and ward-wise email addresses, appoint nodal officers, and equip field staff with decibel meters. The Court has dealt with Mumbai’s air quality in earlier proceedings too, including orders on construction sites in November 2025 and on a monitoring committee in January 2026. The proceedings were assigned to this Bench by the Chief Justice, and similar concerns raised in other matters were listed independently on the same day.
Enforcement on the street, on the record
What the ban says matters less here than whether it is enforced on the street. By tying police inaction to Articles 14 and 21 and asking for an SOP and a sworn confirmation from the Commissioner, the Court has made station-level compliance a matter on the record. The October 26 hearing will show whether the notices, the SOP and the affidavits are in place.
Case Title: In Re: Noise and Environmental Pollution; Public Nuisance caused by unregulated use of Music Systems with Amplifiers and Firecrackers on Public Streets During Festivals [Suo Motu PIL No. 1 of 2026 with IA(L) No. 35677 of 2026]
Bench: Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Dr. Justice Neela Gokhale, Bombay High Court
Date of Order: October 21, 2026
Next Hearing: October 26, 2026
Appearances: Anand Pai (Amicus) with Lavanya Panicker; Rajendra Desai with Krishna Ratnaparkhi, Akshay Pawar and Vasim Siddiqui for the intervenor in IAL No. 35677 of 2026; Anjali Helekar, Government Pleader, with Jyoti Chavan, Additional Government Pleader, for the State; Jaya Bagwe for the MPCB; Oorja Dhond for the BMC