The Bench made it clear that the sale of firecrackers by way of e-commerce platforms would stay strictly prohibited. File | Photograph Credit score: The Hindu
The Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday (October 15, 2025) relaxed its earlier blanket prohibition and permitted the sale and use of inexperienced firecrackers” within the Delhi–Nationwide Capital Area (NCR), topic to stringent situations.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice Okay. Vinod Chandran allowed the sale of inexperienced firecrackers between October 18 and October 21, stipulating that gross sales should happen solely at designated areas. The court docket additional restricted their use to the hours between 6-7 am and 8-10 pm.
Additionally Learn | Full ban on firecrackers would not work, wants balanced strategy: Supreme Courtroom
The Bench made it clear that the sale of firecrackers by way of e-commerce platforms would stay strictly prohibited.
Explaining the rationale behind its resolution, the court docket noticed that an absolute ban had confirmed counterproductive, resulting in the smuggling of standard firecrackers that inflicted far larger harm on air. high quality. “Typical firecrackers are smuggled, which causes extra harm. We’ve got to take a balanced strategy,” the Bench stated.
In an earlier listening to, the Bench had signaled that it would revisit its April 3 order, which had imposed a year-long ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of firecrackers within the nationwide capital. That order, handed by a Division Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, had reasoned {that a} restricted seasonal restriction would serve little function, as gross sales and use of firecrackers would merely proceed outdoors the restricted interval.
The petitioners, together with the Federation of Fireworks Merchants, the Affiliation of Fireworks (Haryana), and the Indic Collective Belief, had contended that the ban was arbitrary and lacked a scientific foundation. That they had argued that stubble burning and vehicular emissions had been far larger contributors to Delhi’s winter smog.
Final month, the Supreme Courtroom had allowed producers with legitimate certifications from the Nationwide Environmental Engineering Analysis Institute (NEERI) and the Petroleum and Explosives Security Group (PESO) to Resume manufacturing of inexperienced firecrackers, whereas sustaining the restriction on their sale throughout the NCR. The court docket had then noticed {that a} blanket ban, within the absence of an efficient enforcement mechanism, was impractical, and had directed the federal government to suggest a extra balanced regulatory framework.
Subsequently, the Fee for Air High quality Administration (CAQM) knowledgeable the court docket that enforcement gaps endured. It highlighted that sure producers had been allegedly promoting QR codes to unlicensed producers and that no sturdy mechanism existed to confirm whether or not licensed firecrackers had been truly being. offered out there.
Printed – October 15, 2025 11:29 am IST