The Supreme Court today expressed strong displeasure at the Central and State Governments on the open sale of crackers and observed that governments cannot play with the rights and health of others.
The Division Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and A.S. Bopanna is hearing a plea in the firecrackers case, where it has sought reply from firecracker manufacturers on a CBI enquiry report claiming manufacturers were using banned barium chemicals.
The Court asked the government why the factories making ordinary firecrackers are not being closed? How are the law enforcement agencies in our country, which know everything, don’t do anything?
The court said that what is the condition of implementing the order of the court in this country? Everybody knows. What message goes when the Supreme Court order is not implemented, the Bench said, observing they are sitting to protect the rights of the people.
Green crackers were allowed but crackers containing harmful chemicals are also available in the market. The Central and State agencies should strictly follow the order. They cannot play with the life values of citizens, the Court said.
Justice Shah clarified that the order to ban firecrackers was given in the larger public interest. It should not be seen as such that the Court had banned firecrackers for a particular festival.
“We are not against any particular community. We just want to give this message that we want to protect the fundamental rights of the people. We are not against any festival, but playing with the lives of people under the guise of celebrating the festival cannot be allowed,”
-Justice Shah said.
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The Bench went on to observe that firecrackers are still being sold in the markets. “Someone should have the responsibility to ensure that our orders are implemented,” it said. The Court said that it is the responsibility of the central and state agencies to ensure the ban on firecrackers because the Apex Court had allowed only green firecrackers.
The Court said, “We will ask the CBI to also investigate those firecracker manufacturers who are selling fake green firecrackers. No one can be allowed to do this.” The hearing in the matter will continue on Friday.