Supreme Court refuses to impose a ban on firecrackers during Diwali

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court refused to impose a ban on people bursting crackers at home and restrict celebrations to community spaces during Diwali, saying that it would be an unnecessary intrusion into personal liberties. But, the court insisted that bursting of crackers should be limited to between 6 am and 10 pm, as it had ordered earlier.

“It is not possible to issue directions when they cannot be implemented. If a citizen wants to burst crackers near his residence, he will say it is my right to do so. We cannot ask people to go to a maidan and burst it,” a bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Arun Misra said. The bench was hearing a public interest litigation, filed by the parents of three toddlers seeking court intervention to keep bursting of crackers to community spaces to reduce air and noise pollution.

In the interim, the PIL had urged the top court to restrict the firecracker celebrations to between 7 pm and 9 pm during this Diwali.

The court though did not completely shut the door on the toddlers’ pleas for curbing the fireworks to check rising air and noise pollution, which was affecting the city’s young populace. “These orders can’t be passed hurriedly,” the bench said, listing the case for further hearing in February. The SC lamented the government’s failure to highlight the toxic effects of firecrackers and asked it to give wide publicity to this aspect of the celebrations in the run-up to Diwali, which in this year is on November 11. The government, represented by Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, said it would do so from October 31.