New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will not relax the blanket ban imposed on sale and use of firecrackers in the national capital.
A bench of Justices A.S. Bopanna and M.M. Sundresh also sought response from the Delhi Police on enforcing the ban on bursting of crackers.
Along with other matters, the bench was considering the plea filed by BJP leader Manoj Tiwari to protect the interests of the public at large who are being “harassed” for celebrating Diwali which is deemed to be one of the most important festivals of the Hindus against the blanket ban on firecrackers in Delhi.
Last year, the Supreme Court had refused to urgently hear Tiwari’s plea and told him to spend his “money on sweets”.
The plea said that the Delhi government’s decision to put a blanket ban on storage, sale, and use of all types of firecrackers infringes freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion of people at large guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution.
Directions were sought to issue fresh guidelines in respect to selling, purchasing or bursting permissible fire-crackers.
The Supreme Court had issued earlier directions pertaining to the regulation of firecrackers, saying that it is not averse to celebrations but not at the cost of life of other citizens.
In its report submitted earlier to the court, the CBI had found that banned harmful chemicals were used by manufacturers in several crackers and they did not disclose the correct ingredients on the labels of the product.
In a recent decision, the Delhi government again issued orders banning manufacturing, sale, storage and use of firecrackers as part of its action plan to curb pollution in winters.
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