Regulations become mockery if not implemented, says Supreme Court

New Delhi, August 31

Noting that regulations become a “mockery” if not implemented, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought to know from the Centre and regulatory bodies what measures they had taken to strengthen the protocols to ban production and sale of non-green firecrackers across India.

“It becomes a mockery unless we have a mechanism to make them (manufacturers and sellers) conform to the guidelines,” a Bench led by Justice AS Bopanna told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, while hearing a PIL filed in 2015 seeking a complete ban on the production and sale of firecrackers.

On behalf of some of the manufacturers, senior advocate Shyam Divan said expert bodies such as the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had dealt with the issue of green crackers and now quality control was the only thing left to be addressed.

The expert bodies had come out with guidelines and the chemical formulae of green crackers, and now PESO would be allowed to monitor the production and sale, he said.

Asking Bhati to inform it of measures taken to strengthen the regulatory protocols, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on September 13.

The top court had in October 2021 said though there was no blanket ban on use of firecrackers, those containing barium salts would remain prohibited. Celebrations could not be at the cost of the health of others and warned that top officials at various levels shall be held “personally liable” for lapses, it had said.