New Delhi, 29 October: The Supreme Court has given interim order on firecrackers. The court said that its earlier order banning firecrackers was given in view of the ill effect on the health of the people.
A bench headed by Justice MR Shah said that it is the responsibility of the central and state agencies to ensure their implementation. Celebrations at the cost of the lives of others cannot be allowed.
The court said that crackers will be allowed to be burst from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali and other festivals like Gurpurab etc. On the occasion of Christmas and New Year, crackers can be burst from 11.55 pm to 12.30 pm.
The court said that if it comes to the production or sale of firecrackers containing prohibited material in a particular area, then there will be personal responsibility up to the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Commissioner, DSP, SHO there. It will be taken seriously. The court order cannot be allowed to be defied.
The Supreme Court has also made it clear that not all firecrackers are banned. Only those firecrackers have been banned, which is injurious to the health of the people, especially the elderly and children.
On October 28, the court had reprimanded the Central and state governments for violating the order banning firecrackers.
The court had said that our order on the ban on firecrackers was given in the larger public interest. The court had said that it should not be projected in such a way that we had banned firecrackers for a particular festival.
The court had said that we are not against any particular community. We are sitting here to protect the fundamental rights of the people. The court had said that we are not against the festival, but playing with the lives of people cannot be allowed under the guise of celebrating the festival. We are seeing that crackers are being sold in the markets, whereas we have allowed only green firecrackers. It is the responsibility of the agencies to ensure that crackers are banned.
The court had said that we will ask the CBI to investigate against those firecracker manufacturers who are selling fake green firecrackers. No one can be allowed this.
On October 6, on the issue of selling old firecrackers in the name of green firecrackers, the Supreme Court had directed all the states to follow the court’s order to ban firecrackers. The court had said that we cannot allow celebration at the cost of life. Where can I get noisy crackers during the festival?
On September 29, the Supreme Court had issued contempt notices to six firecracker makers in the country for not complying with its order banning firecrackers. These cracker manufacturing companies are M/s Standard Fireworks, M/s Hindustan Fireworks, M/s Vinayak Fireworks Industries, M/s Sri Mariamman Fireworks, M/s Sri Suryakala Fireworks and M/s Selva Vinayagar Fireworks. The court had said that the preliminary report of Joint Direct of CBI, Chennai states that the firecracker makers are still using barium nitrate and its other salts for making firecrackers. Firecracker manufacturers do not mention the ingredients on the label of firecrackers. To do so is a clear violation of the earlier order of the Court.
