Centre seeks time on plea to lift Delhi-NCR firecracker ban

The Centre seeks more time to decide on lifting the firecracker ban in Delhi-NCR, balancing health concerns and manufacturers' rights, with the Supreme Court reviewing on Friday.

The Centre on Wednesday, negotiating a way out to balance the right of firecracker manufacturers and the cause of protecting the health of citizens, sought more time to arrive at a decision on the petitions filed by cracker manufacturers to lift the permanent ban on the use and sale of firecrackers in Delhi and national capital region (NCR). The Supreme Court will take up on Friday.

The court earlier noted total bans fail without mechanisms, citing illegal mining in Bihar. (AFP)

Ahead of Diwali, firecracker manufacturers received some respite when the top court on September 26 allowed those holding valid certification to produce green crackers to start manufacturing in their NCR units subject to the strict condition that none of their products shall be sold in Delhi-NCR.

On Wednesday, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said, “Some balance has to be found between the right to clean air and the right to livelihood of persons working in units manufacturing crackers. We will require some more time to come out with a mechanism.”

The bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justice K Vinod Chandran posted the matter on Friday for considering the Centre’s proposal.

Senior advocate Balbir Singh, representing the manufacturers pointed out the urgency in the matter given that the festival of Diwali is round the corner. In their plea, manufacturers had said the April 3 order of the top court banning sale, storage and manufacture of crackers in Delhi-NCR was discriminatory as there is no scientific study linking bursting of crackers to spike in pollution when other factors such as stubble burning and vehicular pollution largely contribute to Delhi’s air pollution in the winter months.

In an earlier order, passed last month, the court said that a complete ban cannot be the solution unless there is a mechanism in place to enforce it. It proposed taking a “balanced approach” as it cited an instance in Bihar where complete ban on mining had led to rise of illegal mining mafia in the state.

The manufacturers claimed they have valid licenses to produce green crackers both from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) that had certified the formulation for green crackers and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) which grants explosive licenses.

According to the NEERI website, there are 1,403 registered green cracker manufacturers in the country of which 51 are in Uttar Pradesh, 22 in Punjab and Haryana, and 1 in Delhi.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which is tasked to control pollution in Delhi-NCR, had on September 26 underlined the need to establish a robust enforcement and monitoring mechanism keeping the extraordinary air pollution situation faced by Delhi-NCR.

The CAQM report quoted NEERI which pointed out several gaps in the implementation process as it found instances where the registered green cracker manufacturers sold their QR codes (pasted as authentication on firecracker covers) to unregistered manufacturers. Also, NEERI said that the sample of green crackers is only tested once at the time of granting license and there is no mechanism to monitor if the same is being sold in the market.

The CAQM suggested a rigorous, transparent, and year-round enforcement and monitoring mechanism to oversee the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of firecrackers, whereby PESO and state authorities could conduct random, surprise inspections and collect samples directly from firecracker manufacturing sites and selling premises.

It was then that the court requested MoEFCC to take all stakeholders on board and propose a mechanism while deciding the applications filed by Federation of Fireworks Traders, Association of Fireworks (Haryana), and Indic Collective Trust to lift the ban and allow green crackers with reduced emissions.