A.F.R. Court No. - 29 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 43167 of 2019 Petitioner :- Masroor Ahmad And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Puneet Bhadauria,Rakesh Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J. Hon'ble Vipin Chandra Dixit,J. Heard Sri Puneet Bhadauria, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Amit Verma, learned Standing Counsel for the respondents. The petitioners who are Muslims by religion have preferred this petition for the quashing of the order dated 12.06.2019 (wrongly mentioned as 21.06.2019 in the petition) passed by respondent No.4 Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Shahganj, District Jaunpur (wrongly mentioned as respondent No.3 Superintendent of Police, Jaunpur in the writ petition). The aforesaid order disposes off the representations of the petitioners filed pursuant to the directions of the Court for permission/renewal of the license to use amplifiers and loudspeakers on religious places on the ground that such use of sound equipments is likely to cause animosity between the two religious groups of the village creating law and order situation. The petitioner No.1 had moved application before the authority concerned for license/permission to use amplifiers and loudspeakers on two Mosques, Masjid Abu Bakar Siddiqui and Masjid Rahmani, both situate in village Baddopur, Tehsil Shahganj, District Jaunpur for the purposes of Azaan for Namaz. The petitioner No.1 was granted permission by respondent No.4 Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Shahganj on 15.01.2018 to use sound equipments as aforesaid on Masjid Abu Bakar Siddiqui, Baddopur for the period from 15.01.2018 to 14.07.2018 for specified times mentioned therein with certain conditions. There is no permission on record with regard to the use of amplifiers and loudspeakers in respect of other mosque i.e. Masjid Rahmani of Village Baddopur, Tehsil Shahganj, District Jaunpur. It is alleged that at one point of time, the said sound equipments had to be removed from the said mosque for repairs but when they were being refixed, the local area police stopped the petitioner No.1 from reinstalling the same. Accordingly, petitioner No.1 preferred Writ Petition (C) No. 11840 of 2018 (Masroor Ahmad and others Vs. State of U.P. and 5 others) and the same was disposed off vide order dated 07.03.2019 with liberty to the petitioner to move an application afresh for renewal of license to use amplifiers and loudspeakers in the mosque in accordance with law. It is in consequence to the above direction and the fact that the license/permission granted earlier to the petitioner to use sound equipments at the aforesaid mosque had expired that a representation was submitted on 16.03.2019 before respondent No.4. The respondent No.4 called for a report from the Circle Officer, Shahganj who vide his report dated 09.05.2019 stated that a spot inspection was carried out on 07.03.2019 wherein it was found that in the area of both the mosques, there is a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims. If any party if allowed to use sound amplifiers, the tension between the two groups would escalate disturbing the peace in the area. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate along with the C.O. had also visited the area and it was found that on account of use of sound amplifying system in the area, there is a grave tension amongst the villagers comprising of persons of both religious groups of Hindus and Muslims. In the past also, dispute on this score had taken a serious turn. Therefore, in order to maintain law and order and peace in the area, it is appropriate not to grant permission to any group to use sound amplifying system on any religious place. Accordingly, the license of the petitioners cannot be renewed or extended and no fresh permission can be granted. In short, on the reading of the aforesaid order, it becomes quite evident that the petitioners have been refused permission to use sound amplifying system at the mosque not only for the inherent reason of noise pollution but in order to maintain peace and tranquillity in the area. It may not be out of context to mention that people in India do not realise that noise in itself is a sort of pollution. They are not even fully conscious about its ill effect on health though some concern is being shown to it in recent past. On the other hand, internationally, especially in the U.S.A., England and such other countries, people are very much conscious of the noise pollution and as a matter of course do not even blow horns of their cars and honking is considered to be bad manners as it causes not only inconvenience to others but also pollutes the environment causing hazards to health. The Central Government in exercise of powers under Sections 25 read with Section 6 (2) and Section 3 (2) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 has framed Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as "Rules"). The aforesaid Rules apart from placing restrictions on use of horns, sound emitting equipments, loudspeakers, public address system, etc., interalia categoriclly lays down that loudspeakers or public address systems shall not be used except after obtaining written permission of the authority. From the aforesaid Rules, Rule 5 (1) of the Rules which is relevant for our purpose is reproduced hereinbelow-: "5. Restrictions on the use of loud speakers / public address system and sound producing instruments.- (1) A loud speaker or a public address system shall not be used except after obtaining written permission from the authority." The authority competent to grant permission is defined under Section 2 (c) of the Rules to mean an include any authority or officer authorized by the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, including the District Magistrate, Police Commissioner, or any other officer not below the rank of the Deputy Superintendent of Police. Thus, in view of the aforesaid Rules, no loudspeaker or public address system, in short any sound producing instrument/equipment or amplifier can be used in public place without the permission of the authority concerned.