Supreme Court clears way for return of crackers in ‘green’ avatar

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its nod for commercial production of ‘

green

’ crackers, signalling

return

of sound and fury to Diwali and other festivals but with up to 30% less pollution if they comply with the new chemical composition approved by the Centre.


Additional solicitor general Atmaram Nadkarni told a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Surya Kant that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute had examined the new chemical formulation of crackers and certified that they would produce up to 30% less pollution.

Nadkarni also said the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation as well as the Central Pollution Control Board had approved the new composition for crackers. Appearing for cracker manufacturers’ associations, senior advocates Vikas Singh and Rajiv Datta and counsel Sai Deepak said they were ready to adhere to the new composition and that the ban on commercial production of crackers had left many jobless.

The CJI Bobde-led bench said, “We are not against the livelihood of any person, but at the same time we do not want the general public to suffer from pollution.” The bench said approval of the new composition for green crackers was fine but the question remained who would ensure that the products coming out of cracker manufacturing units complied fully with the newly-approved formulation.

It directed the cracker manufacturers’ associations to set up testing units at cracker units to ensure that the products conformed to the new norms. It also said these testing units would be supervised by a PESO officer. The SC asked the associations to inform the court in 15 days how the testing units would be set up.

The case has had a chequered history with three toddlers, led by Arjun Gopal, moving the court in 2015 against bursting of crackers during Diwali. The toddlers, who moved the court through their advocate parents, had claimed that Delhi got engulfed in smoke for days after unregulated bursting of crackers during Diwali.

In the last four years, the apex court passed several interim orders, including regulating cracker bursting time and finally a ban on bursting crackers other than green ones.