Court refuses to stay Isha's Shivaratri festival in Kovai

THE Madras High Court on Monday refused to restrain Isha Yoga Centre from going ahead with its much-advertised Maha Shivaratri festivities on February 26 and 27 on its premises in Coimbatore.

- R SIVAKUMAR @Chennai

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 discharge of sewage into the adjacent agricultural land before granting permission for the event.

"The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has stated 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.