HC upholds order disallowing celebrities at Juhu Chhath puja

The Bombay High Court today refused to interfere with a decision of the District Collector to prohibit city-based organisation Bihari Front from inviting celebrities for 'Chhath puja' celebration organised by it on November 17 and 18 at the Juhu beach here.
Bihari Front, of which the former MP Sanjay Nirupam is a member, had challenged the conditions imposed by the Collector of Mumbai suburban district on November 5 while giving permission for puja on the beach.
The Collector allowed the organisation to hold a puja and erect a platform but nixed its plan to put up a temporary fence to create a dry zone and to invite celebrities.

The division bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari today said the Collector's order had been passed keeping the larger public interest in mind and with a view to avoiding untoward incidents like stampede.
"The Collector has written a letter on November 10 to the organisation clarifying that devotional songs and bhajans can be performed by artists. The idea behind the conditions appears to be to ensure that the festival remains a religious one instead of turning into an entertainment programme.
"Bhajans and devotional songs should not become a rock concert. If devotional songs are sung by normal artists, no one will bother but if the same is sung by some celebrity then more crowd will gather and (people) will also want to meet the celebrity," the court said.

Advocate Anirudh Garge, the petitioner's lawyer, argued that fence and barricades were needed for a better crowd management. The court, however, said the organisation can take the assistance of the police and the civic officials and can also ask its own volunteers to chip in.
Garge informed that the organisers would be inviting only former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar who wanted to celebrate the festival and she was not a "celebrity".