NE NEWSSERVICE
CHENNAI, FEB 24
The Madras High Court on Monday junked a petition seeking to restrain Isha Yoga Centre from going ahead with its Maha Shivarathri festivities on February 26 and 27, 2025 in its premises in Coimbatore.
A division bench of justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar dismissed the petitions filed by ST Sivagnanan, who owns a piece of land adjacent to the premises. He had sought a direction to the authorities concerned to ensure Isha took measures to deal with noise pollution and to avoid the discharge of sewage into the adjacent agricultural land before granting permission for the event.
“The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has stated that Isha is complying with the norms and conducting the programme inside the campus and it may not cause any noise pollution to the people residing outside the campus,” the bench noted.
The Court had last week directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to verify as to whether the rules and regulations are being followed by the foundation during Mahasivrathri celebrations.
TNPCB on Monday informed HC that Isha Foundation has adequate treatment facility to handle the sewage generated.
R Kannan, member secretary, TNPCB stated this in his counter affidavit filed in response to the petition filed by Sivagnanan.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, representing the government, submitted a counter-affidavit on behalf of the TNPCB.
Kannan submitted that Isha Foundation has provided adequate treatment facilities and the standard of the Ambient Noise Level was within the standards prescribed by the Board. In the premises of the Isha Foundation, seating capacity was only 60,000.
He said no complaint petition has been received from the public regarding air, water and noise pollution. This yoga center has necessary infrastructure facilities to handle solid, liquid and noise pollution during Mahasivarathiri function. The Isha Foundation has also followed Noise Rules, he added.
It said the Isha Yoga Centre has a total sewage treatment capacity of 1,725 KLD which is adequate to handle the sewage (0.648 MLD) generated from 6,000 people who regularly stay and work in the premises and the sewage of 0.12 MLD generated from the daily visitors ranging from 5,000 to 10,000. The treated sewage is utilized on their own land for irrigation/gardening.
Senior counsel Sathish Parasaran appeared for Isha Yoga Centre while advocate Yogeshwaran represented the petitioner.
