Supreme Court flags banned firecrackers sold in Delhi

A bench of Justices M. M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale was hearing the Delhi firecracker matter on Tuesday when it drew attention to a newspaper report and photograph showing firecrackers on open sale in the capital. The sale appeared to be happening before the permitted window had even opened, and covered kinds of crackers the court has not allowed.

What the 2 November order says

The court's order of 2 November limits sales to certified green crackers, and only from 4 to 6 November. Any other cracker on sale in Delhi, and any sale outside those three days, runs against the order. The bench asked the Additional Solicitor General, the government's law officer, to look into the reported violations.

Delhi's air is part of the story

The hearing comes while Delhi's air is already in poor shape. The city's average AQI stood at 324 on 2 November, in the very poor band, and Stage-II curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan are in force across Delhi-NCR. The cracker restrictions sit inside that wider effort to keep festival-season pollution from pushing the air into the severe range.

What happens next

The sale window for certified green crackers opens on 4 November and closes on 6 November. What the law officer reports back to the bench, and whether violations are seen during those three days, will decide whether the court passes stricter directions.

📷 Photo credit: Pinakpani, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)