The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday declined an urgent hearing of a PIL seeking a direction to the police to ensure that no activities promoting communal disharmony take place during the upcoming programs of Sant Dhirendra Shastri.

The single bench of Justice SV Pinto refused to hear the matter immediately.

 Shastri is the chief Guru of Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The petitioner had requested the High Court on the grounds that Dhirendra Shastri's 'Divya Darbar' program was scheduled to begin on May 26, the Court refused to hear the matter immediately.

 Petitioner advocates KR Koshti told the court that Dhirendra Shastri's darbar is scheduled between May 26 and June 7 in four cities of Gujarat - Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot.

The counsel for the petitioner, urged the court to direct the authorities to prevent the speakers from using inflammatory and intimidating language in the proposed programmes, so that hate speeches can be banned.

 The petitioner's lawyer claimed that the state government has not implemented the directions of the Supreme Court in the Tehseen Poonawala case, which prescribed preventive and remedial measures. The petitioner said that Dhirendra Shastri has been booked for alleged hate speech in Udaipur, Rajasthan and similar demands were made after his programs in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. No response has been given in this regard yet.