The Supreme Court Friday rejected the plea of the Maharashtra government to relax a ban on the use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival next week.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice B.N. Srikrishna and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan, during mention time on the petition filed by the state environment secretary, told the counsel: "Let Ganesh Chaturthi be celebrated peacefully this year."

The state government said it was constrained to file this petition since people in Maharashtra had been following their religious customs, festivals and traditions with all its facets for centuries.

The petition had stated that the total ban by the apex court on use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. would disturb the sentiments of the public and could even lead to police-public confrontations.

This would have serious implications during various festival seasons when NGOs would demand the implementation of the apex court directive, whereas at the ground level implementation would not be easy, the petition said.

It wanted relaxation of the norms for 15 days in a year, five days for Ganesh Chaturthi, two days during Navaratri, one day each on Diwali, Id-e-Milad, Shiv Jayanti, Ambedkar Jayanti and Christmas, and the remaining three days as per permission given by authorities in consultation with the district collector on local religious festivals.