New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to modify its October 9 order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR till October 31 and expressed distress over giving different angles to its order. The bench also directed the Delhi Police to implement the order and said, “we are not going to relax the order as far as sale of firecrackers is concerned”.
The Supreme Court dismissed the plea of traders seeking relaxation on the order and sought permission to sell crackers for at least a day or two before Diwali on October 9. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said that relaxing the ban order “would be against the very spirit” of the verdict passed by the court.
The bench also talked about the relaxation given to those who have bought the firecrackers before the order of banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR and said, “sale of firecrackers has already taken place before the ban order. People will burst it and that will be sufficient. Anyhow, it is not going to be a cracker free Diwali”.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, supporting firecracker traders, suggested to the bench that instead of complete ban on the sale of firecrackers, the apex court should restrict it to a day or two before Diwali as the traders have already purchased firecrackers.
The traders told the apex court about the huge amount they have invested in procuring firecrackers for Diwali and how the order will cause massive loss to them.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi also suggested that the apex court could restrict the time for bursting crackers.
The ban was put after keeping previous year situations in consideration. The day after Diwali is loathed by everyone as Diwali festivities leave a thick cloud of smog and harmful particles that make difficult to breathe.
The apex court stands still on its decision and said its order should be given once chance to test itself and to see if there is a positive effect of this, especially during Diwali.
With inputs from PTI
