New Delhi: Pushing for a “green” Diwali across the country, the Supreme Court Tuesday imposed major controls on firecrackers, including an 8 pm to 10 pm window for bursting them and limiting the manufacture and sale of fireworks to only those that conform to permissible smoke and noise levels.
A bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan also restrained e-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon from selling firecrackers with emission levels beyond the permissible limit.
The permissible limit of sound and smoke will be approved by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), the court said.
The apex court’s order — permitting “green” firecrackers and fixing a two-hour time period for bursting them on Diwali and other festivals — came on a plea seeking a ban on the manufacture and sale of firecrackers across the country to curb air pollution.
The bench said e-commerce websites will be hauled up for contempt of court if they don’t adhere to the court’s direction. “Firecrackers with permissible decibel sound limits will only be allowed to be sold in the market,” the bench said.
The court also asked the Centre to encourage community cracker bursting during Diwali and other festivals in Delhi-NCR and directed all states to explore its feasibility.
The court said station house officers of police stations concerned will be held liable if banned firecrackers are sold in their area.
The top court was of the view that there is need to take into account all aspects, including the fundamental right of livelihood of firecracker manufacturers and the right to health of over 1.3 billion people in the country.
The apex court said Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution applies to both segments of people and it needs to maintain a balance while considering a countrywide ban on firecrackers.
It asked the Centre to suggest measures for curbing pollution and the effect of firecrackers on the public at large. Firecracker manufacturers told the court that the use of crackers should not be completely banned and should instead be strictly regulated.
They contended that crackers are not the reason for increase in air pollution and there are other factors, like wind and temperature, which contribute to it. They said firecracker manufacturers can be deprived of their right to do business based on statements which were not supported by facts.
On October 9 last year, the top court temporarily banned the sale of firecrackers ahead of Diwali in the Delhi-NCR region.
The court refused to relax its order while dismissing a plea by traders who had sought permission to sell crackers for at least a day or two before Diwali October 19, 2017.
The apex court said its ban order during Diwali last year was an experiment to examine its effect on pollution levels in the region.