INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Supreme Court has set aside a green court order making the area around the Amarnath cave shrine's ice Shivling a "silence zone"
The National Green Tribunal has exceeded its jurisdiction in giving the order, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak
Gupta said on Monday.In December last year, the NGT had declared the cave shrine as a "silence zone" and prohibited chanting of mantras and
jayakaras beyond the entry point.Following protests over the restriction at the cave shrine in south Kashmir, the NGT had immediately
clarified that the "silence zone" rule would apply only to the area around the ice stalagmite that resembles the Shiva Linga.The Amarnath
Shrine Board had challenged the NGT order in the Supreme Court, arguing that the green court cannot pass orders on the Amarnath shrine while
hearing the Vaishno Devi case, which the NGT had taken up suo motu.The NGT based its "silence zone" order on scientific grounds that
maintaining silence at the holy location would help in preventing avalanches and maintaining its pristine nature."Nobody would be permitted
to carry anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave and everybody should be properly frisked at the entry point
From the point of stairs and the area inside the cave should be declared silence zone," the NGT had said in its December 2017 order.It
called for removing iron grills in front of the Shiva Linga so that visitors could have a better view of the structure, apart from asking
for a reduction of noise around the structure.Even as the decision triggered protests last year, environment activist Gauri Maulekhi, on
The directions would make the Amarnath Yatra safe and convenient for the devotees
This would protect the shrine from degradation and ensure it is protected for the coming generations," Ms Maulekhi was quoted as saying by
news agency Press Trust of India.
