The Supreme Court on Friday allowed certified manufacturers to produce green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR but barred their sale in the region.
The court added that only those authorised by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) will be permitted.
The court also directed the Centre to work with stakeholders and present a solution on the ban on sale and storage of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR by October 8.
Earlier this month, while addressing the firecracker ban in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court questioned why restrictions were applied selectively, remarking that if clean air was a right for the “elite” citizens of the national capital, it should equally apply across the country.
A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing petitions on regulating firecrackers in the NCR on September 12.
“If cities in NCR are entitled for clean air, why not people of other cities?...Whatever policy has to be there, it has to be on a pan-India basis. We cannot have a policy just for Delhi because they are elite citizens of the country.
“I was in Amritsar last winter and the pollution there was worse than in Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout the country,” the CJI observed.
{{/usCountry}}“I was in Amritsar last winter and the pollution there was worse than in Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout the country,” the CJI observed.
{{/usCountry}}The observations came while the Supreme Court was hearing pleas from firecracker manufacturers and citizen groups challenging its April 3, 2025 order, which upheld an earlier directive of December 19, 2024, banning the sale, manufacture and storage of firecrackers in Delhi and NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
In April, the court stressed that a year-round ban was necessary given the “horrible” air quality in the region. Following its intervention, neighbouring states also extended similar restrictions to their NCR districts.
If the prohibition is expanded nationwide, all firecrackers could effectively be outlawed, though enforcing such a measure may prove difficult, as seen in Delhi where firecrackers are still used illegally during Diwali. Alternatively, easing the restrictions in line with rules elsewhere could allow firecrackers to be legally burst in the capital for the first time since 2018.
The ban was first imposed in 2017 by the National Green Tribunal, later endorsed by the Supreme Court in 2018, and has remained in force since.