The Supreme Court today rejected a plea by traders to allow sale of fireworks in Delhi and the NCR for at least a day before Diwali even as it voiced its anguish over attempts to give a “communal colour” to its ban order.
The court did so while refusing to relax its October 9 order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region till October 31. Diwali falls on October 19.
Traders had moved the top court seeking relaxation of the ban, saying they have already invested a huge amount of money after their licences were revived and the latest order would lead to massive losses. They sought the court’s permission to sell crackers for at least a day or two before Diwali.
“We are not going to relax the order as far as sale of firecrackers is concerned,” a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said. Diwali would not be “cracker-free” in Delhi-NCR as people would burst the firecrackers which they had purchased before the ban order, the bench pointed out.
When advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the parties, referred to certain statements made by some political leaders after the court’s October 9 order, the bench said, “Do not make it political. We are pained to hear that some people tried to give it a communal colour. We are pained. It is sad.”
The court said its ban order for this year during Diwali was an experiment to examine its effect on the pollution level in the region.
Customers shop for firecrackers and fireworks at a stall during the festival of Dhanteras in the Masjid Bunder area of Mumbai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for firecracker traders, said he did not want to argue the matter but only give a suggestion that the sale of crackers should be allowed at least a day or two before Diwali. He also suggested that the court could restrict the timings for bursting firecrackers or its sale.
Pursuant to the apex court’s September 12 order temporarily lifting the stay and permitting sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, traders had got licences and invested money in it as well, he added.
Other advocates, seeking a relaxation on the ban, said the firecracker industry was highly regulated and thousands of people employed in it. Besides Diwali was a cultural event irrespective of the community.
Some of the licencees told the bench that licences granted to them would expire on October 21 while the ban order would be in force till October 31. In response, the bench asked them to make a request to the authorities to extend the period of licence beyond November 1, when the September 12 order of the apex court would come into effect.
During the hearing, the bench also said that firecrackers should be allowed to be burst till 11 pm and not beyond that because it also caused noise pollution. However, advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan, appearing for petitioner Arjun Gopal on whose plea the ban order was passed, said the court should not give any clarification as its order was clear.
When a counsel raked up the issue that Diwali was celebrated by all communities, the bench said, “we are not entering into this debate. Our order was not influenced by all that.”
The court also asked the Delhi Police to implement its order banning sale of firecrackers.
The apex court, while banning the sale of firecrackers till October 31, had said its September 12 order would be made effective only from November one. It had said its November 11, 2016 order suspending the licences “should be given one chance to test itself” to see if there is a positive effect of this, particularly during Diwali.
