The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by 53 petitioners, who are permanent license holders for the storage and sale of firecrackers in the region of the Delhi NCR, as withdrawn. They were aggrieved by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee order imposing a complete ban on the storage and sale of all kinds of fire crackers during Diwali.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva was of the prima-facie opinion that the NGT order dated December 1, 2020 and the Supreme Court Order dated July 23, 2021, were coming the way of the petitioners.
According to the petition, the order of Delhi Pollution Control Committee dated September 15, 2021, imposing a complete ban on the storage and sale of all kinds of fire crackers, during the festival of Diwali was in violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioners guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(g) and 14 of the Constitution of India.
The petition had relied upon the Supreme Court Order dated October 23, 2018 passed inWrit Petition No. 728 of 2015 reported as 2019 (13) SCC 523- Arjun Gopal and Others vs. Union of India and Others, whereby the apex court had permitted the use of firecrackers that were considered as green crackers, i.e., those crackers with the least impact on the environment.
The petitioners had further relied upon Supreme Court Order dated July 23, 2021 n Civil Appeal No. 2865 – 2867 of 2021 (arising from an order passed in the suo motuproceedings initiated by the Ld. National Green Tribunal) had specifically clarified that the storage, sale and use of firecrackers was permitted insofar as those areas where the pollution levels were within the permissible limits.
The petition had been filed and argue by Advocate Rohini Musa.