SC order is last word on dahi handi

MUMBAI: The state home department has made it clear that the Supreme Court’s order on the dahi handi festival must be followed and that no government department

MUMBAI: The state home department has made it clear that the Supreme Court’s order on the dahi handi festival must be followed and that no government department may contradict it.

HT Image

The school education and sports department of the state government had last year issued a government resolution (GR) giving dahi handi pyramids the status of an adventure sport. However, the home department has intervened and asked the sports department to change its stand, clarifying that all government departments will have to follow the Supreme Court’s order.

The GR, issued by the sports department on August 11, 2015, gave dahi handi the status of an adventure sport but was silent on the maximum permissible height of human pyramids, stating simply that multi-layer pyramids are a tradition.

Another GR, issued on June 29, 2016 by the women and child development department, stated that children below 12 cannot participate in dahi handi pyramids. It said that according to the Bombay high court’s revised order in August 2014, the minimum age of participants had been brought down from 18 years to 12 years.

As both GRs contradict the Supreme Court’s recent order, the home department has clarified that the apex court’s order will prevail. “You are hereby directed to urgently revise your resolutions on the celebration of dahi handi, particularly on the height of pyramids and the age of participants. Since the festival is just a day away, you are also instructed to widely publicise the decisions based on the court’s order,” the home department’s order stated.

It said that the government will follow the court’s order in both letter and spirit. “In its order on August 17, the Supreme Court said that the height of pyramids should not exceed 20 feet and that children below 18 years cannot participate in the ritual. It is true that two resolutions issued by two departments are in the contradiction to the court’s order. As the orders are to be implemented by the police, we have directed the departments to issue revise resolutions,” the order stated.

The home department has also instructed the law and judiciary department and the director general of police to implement the portions of the Supreme Court order relating to granting permissions to mandals under the Bombay Public Trust Act and the Maharashtra Police Act.

Geeta Zagade, general secretary of the dahi handi coordination committee, said, “There is lot of confusion. We are sad that the government failed to present our case very strongly in the apex court. If the home department has directed the police to implement the order, it should first consider if dahi handi revelers are law breakers. We have our eyes set on tomorrow’s hearing in the Supreme Court.”

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote in a text message: “The government has to abide by the Supreme Court order.”