The Supreme Court made it clear on Tuesday that the entire nation is bound to its ruling banning the use of barium and other prohibited chemicals in firecrackers, ahead of Diwali.
A plea was being heard by a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh, which sought directives to the Rajasthan government to abide by the judgements of the top court prohibiting the use of bannec hemicsa and controlling noise levels.
There seems to be an idea that the SC ruling just applies in Delhi-NCR, but in actuality, it is applicable throughout the country, the applicant's attorney informed the bench. In order to clear the air, he implored the court to give some guidance.
“At this juncture, no specific order will be necessary in as much as this Court, in the course of hearing the petitions, has passed several orders, where steps have been indicated to minimise and avoid air as well as noise pollution. Hence the said orders will bind every state in the country, including the state of Rajasthan. Therefore, we make it clear that the state of Rajasthan would also take note of this and take all steps to minimize air and noise pollution, not only during the festival season, but even thereafter,” the bench said.
The production and sale of all crackers—aside from "green crackers" and those with lower emissions—were banned by the Supreme Court in October 2018. Along with restricting the use of barium salts in fireworks and stating that their noise levels should stay within acceptable bounds, it also outlawed the production and distribution of "joined crackers." The court also ruled that they could only be sold through authorised dealers and prohibited their online sales. It also set a schedule to burst firecrackers on various occasions.
This was emphasised by the court in its ruling dated October 29, 2021.
Additionally, the court stated that "only those firecrackers are banned, as directed... which are found to be injurious to health" and that it is "clear that there is no total ban on use of firecrackers."
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