Delhi HC junks plea challenging blanket ban on firecrackers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Oct, 2022 11:30 AM
New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition challenging the Arvind Kejriwal-led government's blanket ban on firecrackers in the national capital.
Justice Yashwant Varma said the issue is already pending before the Supreme Court and observed that it is not appropriate for the High Court to take the matter.
Two petitioners, engaged in storing and selling of green crackers, approached the High Court challenging the Delhi Pollution Control Committee's (DPCC) order to completely ban the manufacture, storage, sale, and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers till next year in the capital city.
The plea stated that the air quality in New Delhi has been moderate or better at least since August 15 this year.
"In this view, there is no occasion to impose a ban on the use of even green crackers. Almost all Covid-19 related restrictions that were in force in December 2020 have now been relaxed. There is thus no reason that a restriction on the sale and use of firecrackers remain, especially at a time when the AQI levels in Delhi are at moderate or better levels," it said.
The petitioners also argued that the ban is against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Supreme Court orders.
"It is clear from the order of the learned NGT dated December 1, 2020, and that of the Supreme Court dated July 23, 2021, that a complete ban on the use of crackers is impermissible. Restrictions can be made only in cases where the air quality is poor. The same is not the case in Delhi," the plea contended.
After three days of questioning, the Kerala Police on Friday arrested Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who heads the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jalandhar and has been accused of repeatedly raping a nun, police said.
A 49-year old man who carried out a savage attack on his daughter and her husband for marrying without his consent has been arrested. The woman whose forearm was severed while trying to save her husband was in a critical condition at a hospital, police said.
PPCC President Sunil Jakhar showed a picture purportedly of Sukhbir Badal along with his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia, savouring 'Gol Gappe' in Pakistan during their visit in 2012.
A senior Indian-origin medic who heads Britain’s leading doctors’ union on Thursday called on the government-funded National Health Service to treat its black and minority ethnic doctors more fairly, alleging that there is an “unconscious racism” within the system.
