Cracker Ban: Supreme Court directs modification of Telangana High Court order, asks State to comply with NGT directions

The Supreme Court today ordered for the modification of the November 12 order of the Telangana High Court through which a total ban on the use and sale of fire crackers in the State had been directed.

. The Vacation Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna has now asked the State of Telangana to comply with the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on November 9.

. The Telangana Fire Workers Dealers Association (TFWDA) had moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the November 12 order passed by the Telangana High Court directing the state government to immediately ban the sale and use of fireworks.

The petition filed by Advocate Somanadri Goud K states that the members of TFWDA have been seriously affected by the High Court order, which is violative of their right to livelihood.

.Firecracker dealers move Supreme Court against Telangana HC ban on fireworks. Today, the Bench remained unimpressed with the counsel for the petitioners, since the respondents were not served.

"This is the basic requirement that the opposite party is served, and now in their absence, we cannot pass an ex-parte order."

. Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid appeared for the petitioners.

. The Bench went on to issue notice in the matter. Considering the urgency of the plea, a reply has been sought from the respondents by November 16. In the interim, the High Court order has been directed to be modified in line with the recent NGT order. The Bench stated in its order,

. "Telangana High Court order stands modified and to be in line with NGT's order of November 9 which applies to all states including that of Telangana. All concerned with the State to comply with the directions in letter in spirit. Respondents are not served, but due to the peculiar situation and urgency involved, the November 11 order of the High Court stands modified." Supreme Court . The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had on November 9 ordered a total ban on all kinds of firecrackers in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from midnight of November 9 -10 to the midnight of November 30-December 1.

The order by Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel stated that such ban will also apply to all cities/towns in the entire country where the "average of ambient air quality during November (as per available data of last year) fall under 'poor' and above category."

. However, for cities/towns where air quality is ‘moderate’ or below, only green crackers have been allowed. Timings for use and bursting of these crackers have been restricted to two hours during festivals like Diwali, Chatt, New Year/Christmas Eve etc.

The tribunal clarified that such a direction is in line with the 2019 Supreme Court verdict.

The NGT further directed that states, union territories, Pollution Control Boards (PCB) and Pollution Control Committees (PCC) to initiate special drives to contain air pollution from all sources in view of the potential aggravation of COVID-19.

.NGT bans use of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR from Nov 9 to Dec 1 [Read Order]. The plea in the Supreme Court states that the order was passed by the High Court without making the association a party to the case and without considering the impact it would have on the members engaged in manufacturing such products.

. TFWDA has argued that the High Court order which was passed on the eve of Deepavali has led to immense financial hardships to its members, especially since firecrackers is a “seasonal business for which heavy investments have been made.”

Terming the order as being violative of fundamental rights enshrined under Article 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the petitioner has submitted that the High Court failed to consider the “economic adversities that shall befall upon almost lakhs of people and their respective families who are directly and indirectly employed by the fireworks industry within the State of Telangana.”

. (Read order)

Cracker Ban: Supreme Court directs modification of Telangana High Court order, asks State to comply with NGT directions

Debayan Roy

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