The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to lift the ban on manufacturing, storing, and selling firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, citing alarming pollution levels. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan stressed that air pollution disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, including street workers, and not everyone can afford air purifiers.
The court noted, “Several orders passed by this court in the last six months highlight the horrible situation in Delhi due to extremely high pollution levels… Right to health is an essential part of Article 21, as is the right to live in a pollution-free environment.”
Rejecting reconsideration of the ban, the court stated that unless convinced that "so-called" green crackers had minimal pollution impact, the restrictions would remain.
Meanwhile, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 15.6°C, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 219, classified as 'poor' by the CPCB. The Delhi government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, announced a stricter policy for issuing Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates to out-of-state vehicles, following a CAG report highlighting lapses in pollution control measures.
