The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to examine reports that unauthorised firecrackers are being sold openly in Delhi markets despite the restrictions the court itself laid down a day earlier for Diwali. A Bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale took note of a newspaper report published on November 3 which alleged that both certified and uncertified firecrackers remained readily available in several markets across the national capital.
Source: Law Trend
During the hearing, Justice Sundresh brought the report to the attention of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and asked her to examine the allegations. He specifically referred to claims that vendors were selling different categories of firecrackers, including products without the mandatory QR codes that certify a green cracker.
A follow-up to Monday's green-cracker order
The court's observations came a day after its November 2 development in the same case, when it permitted the sale of certified green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR between November 4 and 6 and their bursting only on November 7 and 8, between 6 am and 7 am and between 8 pm and 10 pm. A complete prohibition on firecrackers returns into force from November 9. Only firecrackers certified by CSIR-NEERI and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) may be manufactured and sold, sales must take place only at designated locations, online sales are prohibited, every box must carry a product-specific QR code, and the manufacture of firecracker strings (laris) and products containing barium remains banned.
What the report alleged
The November 3 report cited by the Bench described alleged violations in Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar, Shastri Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and New Friends Colony, based on market visits conducted on October 22 and November 2. According to the report, traders openly displayed firecrackers marketed as green, pollution-free or zero-pollution products, while conventional firecrackers were allegedly available to customers who specifically asked for them. These are allegations reported by the newspaper and flagged by the court; they have not been independently established.
Source: Times of India report via Scoop
The report also questioned the authenticity of certification labels: some packages allegedly had no QR code at all, while others carried codes that led to online product catalogues rather than certification verification pages. In some markets, vendors allegedly kept conventional firecrackers hidden from display but supplied them on request.
While issuing its November 2 directions, the court had itself acknowledged shortcomings in enforcing earlier restrictions, observing that blanket prohibitions had failed to prevent the unlawful sale and bursting of conventional firecrackers and referring to allegations that prohibited products were being marketed as certified green crackers. The Bench has now asked the Centre to take note of the fresh allegations as Delhi's air quality sits in the very poor category days before Diwali.