2 weeks Ago By Harish V Nair
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today pulled up Delhi Police over ban on firecracker and called it an 'eye wash'. The Top court also said that the firecracker ban should be throughout the year and not just on Diwali. The Supreme Court said the order imposing a ban on firecrackers was not taken seriously by the Delhi police and directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to immediately take action to inform all concerned people about the order of the apex court on the ban of firecrackers and ensure that no license holder sells or manufactures firecrackers.
"No religion encourages any activity which creates pollution. If firecrackers are burst in this fashion..
. it also affects fundamental right to health of the citizens," a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Agustine George Masih, hearing a case on Delhi's yearly air quality crisis, said. The court also demanded the Delhi government take a decision on a permanent ban on firecrackers - the chemical residue of which blankets the city in cloud of toxic smog that smothers residents and severely endangers their health - in the city by November 25.
Today's hearing follows last week's reprimand for the Delhi government and police, each of which was issued a notice to explain to the court why they had failed to implement and enforce the ban on firecrackers, which is announced before Diwali every year and has little or no effect. 'Enforce Complete Ban' On Monday, the Supreme Court demanded an "immediate" response from the Delhi government and police to the ban - which seems to exist on paper only - against firecrackers during Diwali, a ban that is announced, and ignored, every year, resulting in a suffocating blanket of toxic air smothering the national capital and surrounding regions for days after the festival is celebrated. The court issued notice to the Delhi government, led by the Aam Aadmi Party, and the police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, to explain steps taken to implement and enforce the ban this year, as also measures for the next to "enforce a complete ban" on firecrackers.
"There are widespread news reports the ban on firecrackers (in Delhi NCR) was not implemented at all...
this was supposed to be an important measure to reduce pollution," Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said this afternoon, as they continued a long-running (and annual) hearing into the air quality crisis that consumes Delhi every year. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Delhi and around the world..
