``As chairman of the Scrutiny Board I have to be like a father to all the youngsters; and so we will not allow the teenagers to behave obscenely by kissing and hugging in public,'' Nandgaonkar told Express Newsline.

Big Daddy further stressed that since the venue of the show was an educational institution, it was akin to a temple of Goddess Saraswati. Hence, no form of vulgarity onstage and in the audience would be tolerated. ``I have received a lot of complaints in this regard, in fact the Citizens Organisation for Public Opinion (COPO) has submitted to me in writing their willingness to mingle with the crowd to help us keep a check on indecent behaviour.'' The Youth Wing Secretary of COPO, Vineet S Kanchan, today wrote to Nandgaonkar stating: ``One thing which slips through the eyes of the authorities is the behaviour of spectators, especially couples, who behave in a very obscene manner. There have been large scale instances of youngsters publicly hugging and kissing during such rock shows.''

Nandgaonkar has already given permission to four COPO members led by Kanchan to catch, on the spot, couples who behave in an ``immoral manner'' and report the matter to the nearest police station. Four other officials of the Scrutiny Board will also be present at the venue.

Senior Inspector Madhukar Thaval of the Cinema and Theatre Branch, at the Commissioner's Office, confirmed thatNandgaonkar had got in touch with him and said that the concerned police station would take action under the Indian Penal Code if specific cases of obscene behaviour were reported.The minister of state for cultural affairs, Anil Deshmukh, has also supported the Board's stand.

``Kissing and hugging should not be allowed in public places and we will ask the police to be watchful. Even though India is a free, democratic country, some restrictions have to be made so that our youngsters don't go astray,'' he said.

However, the vice-president of the MPYC , Ketan Shah, does not agree with him. ``India is not an Arab country where you can be publicly flogged for kissing. No one can curb spontaneous and tender human emotions like kissing,'' he said.

Aghast collegians, who are still recovering from the Board's earlier diktat that they cannot take off their shirts and dance a la Salman Khan, are too stunned to even react to the latest ruling. ``Next the state will say no couples allowed at Marine Drive,'' astudent of HR college remarked.

Meanwhile, lyrics of the various Savage Garden numbers that were submitted to the Board for scrutiny have yet to be cleared and the final decision on them will only be taken on Thursday. The Board today also decided to re-scrutinise the scripts of the recently banned sex plays, provided the organisers were ready to cut out the objectionable parts.