Why only Delhi and not the rest of India: SC says policy on firecracker ban should be applicable pan-India

“Just because Delhi is the Capital city and the Supreme Court is situated here, should citizens in other cities not get pollution-free air.” This was the observation of the Supreme Court while hearing a batch of petitions filed by firecracker manufacturers seeking to lift the year-long ban on the sale and manufacturing of fire crackers in Delhi-NCR.

Hearing the pleas, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai said that citizens across the country are entitled to a clean air and that any ban on firecrackers should be applicable pan-India.

Advertisement

“If citizens in NCR are entitled to pollution-free air, why not so for people in other cities,” the bench observed while issuing notices on the application.

Sharing his personal experience to highlight the air pollution issue in states like Punjab, CJI Gavai said, “Last winter I was in Amritsar, I was told that the air pollution in Punjab is worse than in Delhi….therefore whatever policy has to be there, the policy has to be on a Pan-India Basis- we cannot have a special treatment for Delhi because people of Delhi are elite citizens of this country.”

The bench further directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Union, to get a report from the Commission for Air Quality Management on Delhi’s air quality.

The matter was posted for further hearing on September 22.

Earlier, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had enforced a complete ban on firecrackers in the NCR.

The bench had also directed directed the states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to issue directions under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}