New Delhi (ILNS): The Supreme Court today rejected a plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order banning the use of firecrackers in West Bengal during the festival season.
A divisional bench comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Indira Banerjee noted that
“festivals are important, but in this time of COVID-19 pandemic preservation of life is more important.”
The plea has been filed by the Burrabazar Fireworks Dealers Association and its representative Gautam Roy, challenging the order of the Calcutta High Court. The impugned order stated that “For the greater good, a small number of persons involved in the firecracker business may have to suffer losses. The overwhelming public interest cannot be compromised.”
Justice Chandrachud stated that the High Court knows the local conditions better. Life itself has been imperiled now.
Later, after the Calcutta High Court order, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a total ban on the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in the NCR from the midnight of November 9-10 to the midnight of November 30 – December 1, 2020.
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The NGT noted that “having regard to increased adverse health impact of pollution by use of crackers on Covid-19, aggravating risk to lives and health which has led to ban by the Governments of Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, UT Chandigarh, DPCC, and by the Calcutta High Court on sale and use of crackers, applying the ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Precautionary’ principles.”
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