NGT dismisses plea against ban on sale of firecrackers

The Supreme Court has already passed an order on the issue and that is the law of the land: NGT

The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday rejected a plea against the ban on the sale of firecrackers in the capital, saying the Supreme Court's order banning the sale till October 31 was the "law of the land".

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar rejected the plea to reopen firecracker shops and release the licences to sell to shopkeepers.

"The Supreme Court has already passed an order on the issue and that is the law of the land," the bench said.

The Supreme Court had on October 13 banned the sale of firecrackers in the national capital till October 31 while dismissing traders' plea for permission to sell crackers for at least a day or two before Diwali on October 19.

The plea before the NGT, filed by Ojaswi Party, claimed that "the prohibition on purchasing and selling firecrackers in the capital is an attack on our religious tradition."

"The fireworks shops have been closed even after the negligible pollution in the firecrackers...the police and the government have attacked the Hindu religion by shutting fireworks shops on Diwali," the plea claimed.

It had also sought dissemination of government advertisements and campaigns against firecrackers.