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The apex court said it had repeatedly intervened against the use of firecrackers owing to ‘horrible’ levels of air pollution.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the ban on sale, production, and manufacture of firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) as “absolutely necessary”.
A Bench by Justices A.S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan dismissed applications filed by traders to reconsider the ban on crackers or reduce the prohibition to three or four months a year.
The court reasoned that restricting the ban to a few months would not serve any purpose, as firecrackers would be stored throughout the year only to be sold and used during the period of the enforcement of the ban.
‘Green crackers’
The Bench put the onus on the manufacturers to scientifically improve the “so-called green crackers”.
“Only if it is shown that bursting of green crackers causes the bare minimum pollution, there is a possibility of rethinking the ban imposed through earlier orders of this court,” the Bench recorded.
Justice Oka said the manufacturers ought to bring down the pollution levels of crackers to virtually zero percent.
Experts’ reports in the court had concluded that emissions generated by green crackers were 30% less than their conventional counterparts.
The court said it had repeatedly intervened against firecrackers owing to the “horrible” levels of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR.
“Air pollution levels remain alarmingly high for months. It affects the common man, especially those who earn their livelihood on the streets. Not everyone can afford air purifiers at their homes and offices,” Justice Oka observed.
‘Right to clean air’
“Right to health is an essential part of the Constitution, so also the right to live in a pollution-free environment,” he added.
Senior advocate Arundhati Katju, for the applicant traders, said efforts were continuously being made to bring down the pollution levels of crackers.
“Continue to make these efforts,” Justice Oka responded.
The apex court also directed Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to take steps to ban online sales of crackers as had been done in Haryana and Delhi, and file compliance reports in two weeks.
It ordered the NCR States to create an effective machinery to implement the cracker ban by taking preventive and coercive actions against violators. It asked the NCR States to place on record the details of the proposed machinery in three weeks.
Published – April 04, 2025 01:30 am IST
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