In his order today, Assistant Judge H D Chaglani held that the lower court's order was not proper. Besides causing great inconvenience to the organisers, cancelling the garba at this juncture could lead to a law and order problem, the judge held.

The UWB had challenged the lower court's ruling asking the organisers to let boys and girls in free. Amit Goradia of UWB told Express Newsline, ``There was no way we could have handled the rush if everyone was allowed in.''

However, he said that the UWB had already decided to return the money collected from girls -- each woman participant was asked to buy a brooch for Rs 50, which would go to a charitable cause -- so far; they will not be charged any money for entrance from Sunday. The refunds may be collected from the UWB office from Monday between 10 am and 6 pm.

The sudden cancellation of the United Way garba -- one of the most popular in the city -- made for some tense moments for the city's law-enforcing agencies. Thwarted revellers made a beeline for the neighbouring Maa Shakti garba, leading to a chaotic situation.

Securitymen and police personnel had to use force to push away groups of boys, who were threatening to break the security cordon. While girls were allowed in batches, boys carrying UWB passes were barred entry. Frustrated, they started doing the garba outside the venue.

However, UWB's problems seem to be far from over. The Youth Congress, which was at the forefront of the protest and the court case, said the organisers had hurt their religious sentiments by not conducting the garba festival on Saturday. ``In protest, we will demand that the money collected from the boys, too, be returned'', said YC leader Naval Bajaj. ``We will take to the streets on the issue in a day or two.''

Meanwhile, the UWB said it would hold talks with stall-owners who suffered losses through wasted food and drink on Saturday. ``We will look into it after the festival was over,'' Goradia said.

The J P Road Police said though they did not anticipate any trouble adequate protection would be provided at both venues.