No crackers on New Year, weddings in Punjab, Hry, UT: HC
BAN ON BURSTING OF CRACKERS DURING MARRIAGES WILL REMAIN IN PLACE TILL JANUARY 11, NEXT DATE OF HEARING
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday banned bursting of crackers on New Year’s eve and a day later in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana, excluding areas under the national capital region (NCR). The court also put a ban on bursting of crackers during marriages and other celebratory functions in these areas. The ban order will remain in place till January 11, the next date of hearing.
The order was passed during resumed hearing of a suo motu petition initiated ahead of Diwali in October following reports of rising levels of pollution. The high court had then fixed the time slot of 6.30pm to 9.30pm for bursting crackers on Diwali in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. It had restricted fireworks timings to three hours on Gurpurb, the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, on November 4.
The districts under NCR in Haryana where HC order will not be applicable are Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Mewat, Palwal, Panipat, Rewari, Sonepat, Rohtak, Karnal, Mahendergarh, Faridabad, Bhiwani and Jind. The districts where the order will be applicable are Ambala, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hisar, Yamunagar, Kurukshetra, Dadri and Panchkula. A detailed order is awaited.
Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who is amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the matter, said, “The order will be applicable in entire Punjab and Chandigarh and areas excluding NCR in Haryana. NCR districts have been kept out of the ambit of the order since Supreme Court too is seized of the matter.”
“HC orders are being flouted with impunity. There is no compliance,” the HC bench of justice AK Mittal and justice Amit Rawal observed, while directing enforcement agencies such as police, district authorities and state pollution control boards to ensure compliance.
As per reports submitted by Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana before the HC, there was considerable decrease in pollution levels on Diwali after the HC banned bursting of crackers.