Supreme court allows 2 hour window for bursting crackers on Diwali
The Supreme Court today announced a major decision on the sale and bursting of firecrackers before Diwali. The Supreme Court has cleared the cracker sale with certain conditions in the country. The court has said that it should be kept in mind that the use of firecrackers causes pollution and harms the environment.
The Supreme Court has released the schedule for the bursting of the crackers. According to the Supreme Court, people can burst firecrackers from 9.45 am to 12.15 pm on Christmas and New Year from 8 pm to 10 pm, on Diwali. Apart from this, no seller will be able to sell online crackers.
Justices AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan had reserved their verdict on this issue on August 28. Apart from the petitioners, the court had to go in favor of the NGO including the firecracker trader, the Central Pollution Control Board. During the hearing, the Bench said in his comment that there was a need for reconciliation in the rights and business of health.
Banned last year as well
Prior to this, in the wake of pollution in the past year, the court had barred the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR before Diwali. On October 9, just before Diwali, the Supreme Court had in its order prohibiting the sale of firecrackers with certain conditions, which would be renewed after November 1, 2017, after Diwali had passed.
During the hearing of a petition filed on the issue of increased pollution after Diwali in 2016, the Supreme Court banned the sale of crackers in Delhi-NCR in 2017. However, on September 12, 2017, the Supreme Court amended the restriction on the sale of firecrackers, and with certain conditions, the order of temporary licenses of Fireworks vendors was cut by 50 per cent.
In addition, the court also banned the crackers from other states in Delhi-NCR. But the apex court’s decision had once again restored the old order of November 2016 and ordered the entire ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR.
