Planning a festival procession with a sound system, or firecrackers? The Bombay High Court has tightened the rules. It has ordered a total ban on bursting firecrackers during festivities, and directed that loudspeaker permissions come with decibel meters at every venue, written undertakings, forfeitable deposits, and seizure of equipment if the noise limits are breached, measures to be enforced through the current festive season.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has issued a detailed set of directions to control noise and environmental pollution caused by the unregulated use of music systems with amplifiers and firecrackers during festivals, including a total ban on the bursting of firecrackers during festivities [In Re: Noise and Environmental Pollution; Public Nuisance caused by unregulated use of Music Systems with Amplifiers and Firecrackers on Public Streets During Festivals].
A Division Bench of Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Neela Gokhale passed the directions in a suo motu public interest litigation, having, it said, been “alarmed by the noise and the environmental pollution” caused by such activities on public streets.
The legal framework
Noise pollution of this kind is governed by the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which prescribe ambient air-quality standards in respect of noise for different areas or zones and fix responsibility for enforcement on designated authorities, including the District Magistrate, the Police Commissioner and officers not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The Court noted that, despite this framework and earlier directions in PIL No. 173 of 2010 and orders of the National Green Tribunal, enforcement had remained largely complaint-driven, with authorities acting only after violations were reported rather than preventing them.
The firecracker ban
The Court directed that there shall be a total ban on the bursting of firecrackers during festivities, and that the authorities take necessary steps to enforce it and to prevent the air and noise pollution generated by their use. It noted that the firecrackers available in the market did not indicate the decibel levels or the extent of noise pollution they would generate, that there appeared to be no norms regulating this, and that the cumulative effect of such pollution on an already strained urban air quality was a serious concern.
Controls on loudspeakers and sound systems
On amplified sound, the Court issued a series of measures, in addition to earlier orders of the High Court, the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. Applicants seeking permission to use sound systems must furnish an undertaking or affidavit that the systems will not exceed the prescribed decibel limits, and “Decibel Measurement Meters” are to be installed at every venue and procession so that the noise levels can be measured, both singularly and cumulatively, and recorded in the presence of the permission holders.
The Court directed the authorities to consider taking substantial security deposits as a condition for granting permissions under the 2000 Rules, to be forfeited in the event of a breach of the decibel limits at the venue or during a procession. Permissions are to be displayed by organisers and processions, and the authorities are to make a ward-wise assessment before granting permissions, so that the number of permissions in a single ward does not, cumulatively, result in a breach of the noise norms. In case of violation, the police are empowered to seize the equipment, and violators are to be proceeded against in accordance with the directions of the High Court, the Supreme Court and the NGT.
The Court also directed wide publicity of the directions and of the harmful effects of high noise levels, through newspapers, banners and posters, and ordered that the order be circulated to all concerned authorities in Maharashtra for compliance during the festive season. The proceedings were adjourned to a later date for a compliance report.
Why it matters
The order marks a shift from a complaint-driven model of noise-pollution enforcement to a preventive one. The Court’s concern was that, in practice, authorities acted only after a violation was reported, by which time the harm, to residents, patients, students and the elderly, had already occurred; the new directions, decibel meters at every venue, undertakings, deposits forfeitable on breach, and ward-wise capping of permissions, are designed to build compliance into the permission itself, rather than leaving it to after-the-event complaints. For festival organisers, the practical effect is that a permission to use amplified sound now carries measurable conditions and real financial and legal consequences for exceeding the limits.
The directions rest on a settled legal foundation. The right to a noise-free environment has been recognised as part of the right to life under Article 21, and the Supreme Court, in its noise-pollution jurisprudence, has held that no one has a right to create noise even in the exercise of a fundamental right, and that the right to speech does not include a right to use amplified sound at a volume that harms others. The Noise Pollution Rules, 2000 give effect to that principle by fixing decibel limits and zones; the High Court’s order is an enforcement mechanism to make those limits effective on the ground.
The measures apply across festivities generally, and are addressed to the manner of celebration, unregulated amplified sound and firecrackers, rather than to any festival or community in particular. The immediate significance is seasonal: with the order directed to be circulated for compliance during the current festive season, organisers and authorities alike will have to operate under the tightened regime, and the Court will review compliance when the matter is next taken up. As an interim, supervisory order in a continuing PIL, it is subject to the further directions the Court may issue, and to the orders of the Supreme Court, which has stayed one of the related NGT directions.
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]
Bench: Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale, High Court of Judicature at Bombay
Date of Order: September 22, 2026
Appearances: Advocate General Dr. Milind Sathe for the State; Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy, with Advocate Anand Pai, as Amici Curiae; Senior Advocates for the intervenors.
Status: Suo motu PIL. Total ban on bursting firecrackers during festivities and detailed loudspeaker-control directions issued for compliance during the festive season; proceedings adjourned for a compliance report.