Supreme Court lifts ban on sale of firecrackers in NCR area

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted “for the time being” its order of suspending permanent licences for sale and retail of firecrackers within the National Capital Region (NCR).

Modifying its earlier order, a bench of judges Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta lifted the ban, saying that a graded and balanced and not radical approach was required to deal with pollution menace in the city.

This means that firecrackers would be available in Delhi NCR and people could procure and use it to celebrate Dussehra and Diwali in coming festive season. The court also urged Delhi government and other authorities to consider encouraging fireworks display through community participation rather than the individual bursting of fireworks.

The court then pulled up Delhi government and city police for not taking preventive steps to curb pollution caused due to bursting crackers and directed the Education Department of NCT to formulate a plan within 15 days to sensitise people particularly children about the health hazards of firecracking.

“Continuing the suspension of licences might be too radical a step to take for the present. A graded and balanced approach is necessary that will reduce and gradually eliminate air pollution in Delhi and NCR. At the same time it is necessary to ensure that injustice is not caused to those who have already been granted a valid permanent licence to possess and sell fireworks in Delhi and the NCR,” the bench said.

It modified its previous order to suspend licenses of the firecracker dealers while giving them 30 days’ time to counter why the quantity of firecrackers should not go down to 50 per cent by 2018.

“While lifting the suspension on the permanent licences granted, we put these licensees on notice for Dussehra and Diwali in 2018 that they will be permitted to possess and sell only 50% of the quantity permitted in 2017 and this will substantially reduce over the next couple of years,” it said.The court added that the revival of licenses will be reviewed after Diwali depending upon ambient air quality post-Diwali.