The Citizens Committee On Noise Pollution, Thr. Its Member, Antonio D'Souza., v. State Of Goa, Through Its Chief Secretary And 4 ORS.,
1 mca83-19dt.13.06.19 Santosh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA
MISC. CIVIL APPLICATION NO.83 OF 2019 IN SUO MOTU WRIT PETITION NO. 4 OF 2006 The Citizens Committee on Noise Pollution, through its Member.
...... Applicant.
Versus
State of Goa, and others.
...... Respondents.
Ms. Norma Alvares, Advocate for the Applicant. Mr. Deep Shirodkar, Additional Govt. Advocate for the Respondents. Coram : S.C. Gupte & Prithviraj K. Chavan, JJ.
Date : 13 th June, 2019.
P.C. :- 1.
The subject-matter of controversy in the present Application is implementation of the Noise Complaint Handling System Software (App) in a time bound manner. The original grievance which led to the Suo Motu Writ Petition was about substantial noise pollution occurring in the coastal belt of the State, particularly during the tourism season in Goa, causing great disturbance to the residents. The Writ Petition was disposed of by directing the authorities to investigate the complaints of noise pollution in a time bound manner and launch prosecutions in cases
2 mca83-19dt.13.06.19 of offences. The Applicants, who are the Citizens Committee on noise pollution constituted by this Court for proper implementation of Noise Pollution Rules, have now approached the Court complaining of want of redressal of people's grievances about noise pollution. The Applicants claim to have made several efforts to complain to the Authorities, but their efforts were in vain. The Applicants, in the premises, propagated an idea of development of 24 X 7 App, enabling the citizens to register their complaints and the Authorities to act on such complaints and curb the norm violations, ensuring transparency and in a systematic manner. 2.
When the matter was last before this Court, learned Advocate General for the State of Goa made a statement that the Government had received a proposal from Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd., who is a party respondent in the present Application, for development and provision of a Mobile App for registration of complaints of noise pollution. The Government had accepted the position that this Mobile App would facilitate registration of complaints of noise pollution and expeditious actions on the part of the Authorities on the basis of such complaints. The statement of the learned Advocate General that the Government would take a decision in this behalf within three weeks was recorded by this Court in its order dated 7 th March, 2019.
3 mca83-19dt.13.06.19 3.
Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd., for its part, has communicated to the Collector & District Magistrate, North Goa that it had submitted its proposal for development of "Mobile App for Complaint Registration for Noise Pollution in North Goa" for the latter's approval and for issue of work order. Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd., had proposed that the development of the project would require 45 working days with another 30 days for conducting security audit.
4.
Mr. Shirodkar, learned Addl. Govt. Advocate, informs the Court that the State Government has accepted the proposal of Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd. and asked the latter to go ahead with the development of the project.
The statement is accepted.
5.
Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd. (Respondent No.6) is directed to go ahead with the development of the project, including security audit as communicated by it to the Collector & District Magistrate, North Goa by its communication dated 12th February, 2019 and strictly keep to the timeline proposed by it. 6.
The application is disposed of in the above terms. Prithviraj K. Chavan, J. S.C. Gupte, J.