The Supreme Court on Thursday emphasised that restricting the ban on firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region to just a few days around Diwali would be meaningless, as firecrackers could be purchased and stored in advance..The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan reiterated that earlier orders had been passed based on the horrible pollution levels in Delhi over the last six months."The air pollution levels remained alarming. Large section of population works on the streets. Not everyone can afford air purifiers. Right to health and pollution free atmosphere is for everyone...The ban imposed is limited to Delhi NCR region. We confirm that ban is absolutely necessary. Restricting ban for few months will not serve any purpose as firecrackers can be stored. Unless the Court is satisfied that pollution by green crackers in minimal....the Court will not reconsider any previous order," it said..During the hearing, the Court also came down heavily on a litigant for making scandalous allegations that noted environmental lawyer MC Mehta was being funded by international organisations connected to naxalites.It called the claims “reckless” and said that the application lacked bona fides. While it stopped short of imposing costs, the Court warned the litigant that such conduct would not be tolerated in the future..The litigant identified himself as Mukesh Jain, President of an organisation called Ram Rakshak Shri Dara Sena. Reading from Jain’s application, Justice Oka pointed out that it accused Mehta of working under a conspiracy funded by the Ford Foundation and “international governments". References were made to George Harris Charity Aid and claims that Mehta had amassed ₹500 crore in assets. When asked to substantiate these claims, Jain insisted that “no lawyer works for free” and compared Mehta’s work to what he had seen in the film Jolly LLB..The Court, while rejecting Jain's application, remarked, “Personally, we don’t know who MC Mehta is, but it is only because of cases filed by this gentleman that the law on pollution evolved in India.”It noted that MC Mehta had filed a large number of environmental PILs since the 1980s, resulting in landmark orders including those that helped protect the Taj Mahal from industrial pollution..The allegations emerged during a hearing in the MC Mehta case involving the ban on firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region. The Court reaffirmed its ban of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR until December 2025. Amicus Curiae and Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh told the Court that all four NCR states had banned firecrackers, but online sale remained an issue in some states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. She stressed the urgent need for regulation by the Court.“People literally choke during Diwali. Those who suffer are the depressed, because the elite leave Delhi.”The bench further took strong exception to submissions that downplayed the ban’s effectiveness or compared it to pollution from other sources.“Don’t be under the impression that we have a lot of spare time. Are we balancing clean air against people’s right to sell crackers?” it remarked.The Court also flagged the issue of noise pollution, noting it was being completely overlooked.The judges said that the ban was essential to protect public health, especially of people who work and live on the streets and cannot afford air purifiers..The focus of today's hearing was on “green crackers”, with the Court questioning whether they were in fact any less polluting.“Only if green crackers are scientifically shown to cause bare minimum pollution will we consider rethinking the ban,” the bench said, after being shown a report by NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) that suggested green crackers only reduce emissions by about 30%.“There is nothing green about crackers that reduce emissions by only 30%,” the Court remarked.It said it would rely on the NEERI report, which was already on record, and appoint a suitable agency to look further into the certification of green crackers..[Read Live Coverage].[Read Order]
