SC refuses to relax NGT ban on firecrackers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to relax a ban by the National Green Tribunal on the sale and bursting of firecrackers during the Covid pandemic in Delhi, NCR and other cities across the country having poor AQI and dismissed the appeals challenging the clamp down by the green tribunal. The court noted that the NGT order does not deal with prohibition of the manufacture of the firecrackers in the concerned areas and those wanting to use them could do so with permission.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, refused to relax a ban by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the sale and bursting of firecrackers during the Covid pandemic in Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), and other cities across the country having poor air quality index (AQI) and dismissed the appeals challenging the clamp down by the green tribunal.

A bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjiv Khanna held that the NGT order already permits the authorities to allow firecrackers if the AQI improves and so no further clarification is required.

The court noted that the NGT order does not deal with prohibition of the manufacture of firecrackers in the concerned areas and those wanting to use them could do so with permission.

The appeals had challenged the order by the NGT’s principal bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, a former Supreme Court judge, in December 2020, prohibiting the use of firecrackers in areas with poor AQI in the wake of Covid pandemic and allowing only “green crackers” for a specific period of time during festivities like Diwali, Christmas, and New Year.

On senior advocate P.S. Narasimha Rao faulting the NGT order on the anvil of the top court’s ruling permitting the manufacture and sale of green crackers, the court said that the green tribunal has taken a moderate view analysing the top court’s verdict.