File Status Report On Kalyan Mandaps By April 5, Orissa HC Directs Cuttack Civic Body

Cuttack: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has been given a deadline by Orissa High Court till April 5 to file a status report on adherence to guidelines prescribed by it regarding the kalyan mandaps functional here.

On the basis of a petition filed, the court had laid down the guidelines for operating the mandaps on November 9, 2016. According to the petition, it alleged traffic chaos due to increasing congestion in roads in different parts of the city during social functions in these mandaps as most of them did not have parking areas.

As per the guidelines, it is mandatory for the kalyan mandaps to earmark 40 per cent of the built-up area as parking space. However, earmarking 20 per cent of built-up area for parking was allowed in the case of the mandaps that had functioned for at least five years on the condition that there would be no parking on public roads.

It is also mandatory for the mandap owners to install CCTV cameras, fire extinguishers and ensure no noise pollution beyond the prescribed time and decibel as per the rule. A payment of users’ fee in advance for solid waste management was also mentioned in the guidelines.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray was adjudicating an interim application on Tuesday. In the application, Amicus Curiae AK Budhia had reported that several mandaps were not adhering to the prescribed guidelines, but were being allowed by the civic body to function on the basis of conditional licence.

The court ordered the civic body to file an updated status in the form of an affidavit by April 5 after noticing that the CMC had not filed any status report on guideline compliance by the kalyan mandaps after December 16, 2019.

The CMC said that there are 73 kalyan mandaps in the city. The old mandaps are those which have been operating before November 9, 2011, and the new ones are those operating after that. The Court has scheduled the next hearing on the matter on April 13.

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