DISPOSING OF a writ petition seeking direction to the administration to allow smaller mandals to take out the procession before the five most revered Ganesh mandals (Manache mandals) which are always given priority, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the police would carry out their responsibility efficiently.
Shailesh Badhai, the president of the Badhai Samaj Trust in Raviwar Peth, petitioned the court to set a time limit within which the five Ganesh Manache mandals should complete their procession on Anant Chaturdashi, the final day of the festival. Alternatively, he had said, the court should pass an order that the Manache mandals allow others to go for immersion on a first-come, first-serve basis to avoid unnecessary delays.
“Do many small Ganesh mandals also say that the police have refused them permission to hold an immersion procession on Laxmi Road? Then why was there no public interest litigation? Why has only one Ganesh mandal approached the court?” the court asked, according to application lawyer Asim Sarode. He said, “The court stated that it was wrong to presume that the Ganesh immersion procession will go on for 24 to 28 hours. The police will carry out their responsibility efficiently.”
On the court disposing of the petition, Sarode said many small Ganesh mandals would now seek permission of police to allow them to carry out the procession ahead of the Manache Ganesh mandals. “Tradition does not mean to do injustice. This is the beginning to raise voice against a wrong tradition. Whether or not the police take decision on permission of Ganesh mandals, we would again file a petition in the court with more proof against the wrong practice,” he said.
The 130-year-old Pune Badhai Samaj Trust had requested the court to make a rule against the alleged discrimination in the immersion procession for times to come. Sarode said there is an unwritten rule that the five Ganesh mandals immerse idols first and smaller mandals have to wait till later.
