HC adjourns hearing of plea seeking modification of Delhi govt's decision on banning firecrackers

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on a plea seeking to modify the Delhi Government's decision to completely ban storage, sale and use of firecrackers in the national capital during the festival of Diwali.

The bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh deferred the matter for December 13, 2021, as the main counsel for the petitioners was not present during the hearing. Earlier, the court took note of the submission of the respondent that the related matter is already examined by the Supreme Court.

The petition, filed by Rahul Sawariya and Tanveer through Advocates Gautam Jha, Pankaj Kumar and Shweta Jha, also sought direction to the respondent to consider Graded Regulations instead of a complete ban on firecrackers during the festival of Diwali.

According to the petition, the decision to ban all forms of firecrackers prior to about 1.5 months of Diwali is arbitrary and unreasonable.

The petitioners claimed that the decision to ban the use of the firecrackers one and a half months prior to Diwali is also excessive.

"The action of the Respondent must be no more intrusive than is necessary to meet an important public purpose. No doubt Article 25 of the Indian Constitution is subject to Article 21 and it is not contested by the petitioners, however, it is submitted by the petitioners that the extent of the interference of the Respondent by its decision/order is not proportionate to the ultimate aim and objective that is to curb the pollution in the NCT Of Delhi," read the petition.

According to the petition, the National Clean Air Programme, under the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change, presented a report on the issue of air pollution and the findings and data presented in the report will be relied upon by the petitioners to demonstrate that bursting of firecrackers is not among the 'major' source of pollutions in Delhi and NCR.

"It is certainly not the case of the petitioners that all categories of firecrackers are good, but petitioners are aggrieved by 'complete ban' on the storage, sale and use of the firecrackers, since neither Government data, nor the Judgments on this subject advocate a complete ban, which makes the decision of Government of NCT Delhi as arbitrary, unreasonable and excessive," the petitioners said.

( With inputs from ANI )