Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday refused to ban immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar this year.
A division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt, while dealing with a contempt case by city advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav, felt that it would not be possible to seek steps to reduce the height of the idols at this stage, since the big idols for the upcoming festival has already been made.
Pointing out that the petitioner approached the court at the eleventh hour as idol makers have already prepared big idols, the Bench expressed its disinclination to pass an order to stop immersions in Hussainsagar.
The Bench, however, directed the Telangana government, GHMC and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to give assurances to the court that they would abide by the court’s earlier orders regarding the steps to be taken to avoid contamination of the lake.
A division Bench of the court in 2001 had directed that within 24 hours of immersion, the remains of the idols, accumulated debris, and other waste materials would have to be removed from the water body and transported to the solid waste dumping sites of the Municipal Corporation for disposal, unless the same was collected by idol makers for recycling.
While adjourning the hearing, the Bench granted two weeks to the respondents to file affidavits giving an assurance to the court.
