The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the ban imposed by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi on firecrackers in view of the rising levels of pollution.
The Bench of Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice M.M. Sundresh, while hearing a writ petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Manoj Tiwari, observed that locally if there was a ban, they would not interfere with it.
The counsel appearing for the BJP leader submitted that many states, including the Delhi government, have imposed an absolute ban on firecrackers, while the Supreme Court had only ordered a blanket ban on the sale, storage, purchase and use of firecrackers.
However, the Apex Court refused to interfere and told the counsel to find other ways to celebrate.
Tiwari had filed a writ petition in 2022 against the firecracker ban imposed by the Delhi government ahead of Deepawali in October last year, seeking issuance of guidelines in respect of the sale, purchase and bursting of firecrackers.
Last year, the Bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice M.M. Sundresh had made an oral observation on a similar petition, suggesting the petitioner to spend their money on sweets and let people breathe some clean air.
The Supreme Court had passed a slew of directions in 2021 to ensure that banned chemicals were not used in crackers ahead of Diwali 2021.
The Bench had also clarified that there was no total ban on firecrackers and that only those firecrackers were banned that contained barium salts. Green crackers were permissible following the directions issued by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Tiwari’s writ petition was listed along with the case Arjun Gopal and others vs Union of India, a writ petition filed in 2015 by a group of minors seeking regulation of firecrackers in Delhi.
Earlier on October 20, 2022, the High Court of Delhi had dismissed a similar petition challenging the September 14, 2022 order of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Yashwant Varma had observed that the material on record showed that the issue of pollution as a result of use of firecrackers during Diwali was firstly considered by the Supreme Court in case Arjun Gopal vs Union of India and Ors.
Since the petition was still lying in the Apex Court, it would not be appropriate for the High Court to consider the issue.
On October 10, 2022, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with the ban on sale, manufacture and burning of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR area.
The Apex Court passed the orders on a writ petition filed by BJP MP Manoj Tiwari seeking directions from the city government to issue fresh guidelines regarding firecrackers, contending that the freedom of religion cannot be taken away under the pretext of the right to life.
Filed through Advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, the plea further sought directions to all states not to take any coercive action like lodging FIR against common people found selling or using permissible firecrackers during the festival season.