A petition filed by a social worker challenging the validity of the revised guidelines that forbade the use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) for making idols used during Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri was dismissed by the Bombay High Court bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik on Monday.
Ajay Sadashiv Vaishampayan argued that the CPCB’s 2010 rules on idol immersion were sufficient and that a ban on PoP idols was not required.
The Central Pollution Control Board announced the rules for idol immersion in 2010 and updated them in 2020.
In this regard, the argument emphasised how the Gujarat government’s decision to forbid PoP Ganesh idols had been reversed by the National Green Tribunal in 2013.
