National Green Tribunal
Sudhir vs Ministry Of Environment Forest And ... on 11 October, 2023
Item No. 06 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 606/2023
Sudhir Applicant
Versus
Ministry of Environment, Forest &
Climate Change & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 11.10.2023
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Sudhir, Applicant in Person
ORDER
1. By this original application, the Applicant has prayed for suspension of all licenses permitting sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail within the territory of NCR and has also prayed for a direction that no such license should be granted/renewed till further orders. He has further prayed for direction to the respondents to issue guidelines to ban sell of crackers on e-commerce websites, including Flipkart, Amazon etc. Further direction prayed to the respondents is to completely ban manufacture, storage, sale, use and bursting of all kinds of fire crackers and seal existing stock in the NCR. There is a further prayer to direct the respondents to halt all demolitions and construction activities in Delhi-NCR till 30 November, 2023.
2. The above prayers have been made in the background of the plea that the bursting of fire crackers during Diwali contribute to air as well as noise pollution and that as a result of burning of crackers during Diwali, PM 2.5 reaches an alarming high level which is injurious to health. It is 1 also the plea of the Applicant that manufacture of fire crackers generates a lot of waste which adds to pollution, therefore, the supply chain of the fire crackers should be completely snapped.
3. Having heard the learned Counsel appearing for the Applicant and perusal of the record, we find that the Applicant has prayed for blanket ban of all activities relating to manufacture, storage, sale and use and bursting of fire crackers and suspension of all such licenses, including ban on sale of crackers on e-commerce website. The relevant material justifying such a blanket ban has not been enclosed with the OA.
4. That apart, a perusal of the application reveals that different State Governments are time to time passing orders restricting sale of fire crackers ahead of Diwali festival depending upon the prevailing circumstances and air quality norms. Annexure A-24 enclosed with the OA reflects the decision to ban manufacture, sale, storage and use of all types of fire crackers in Delhi this year.
5. That apart, the Tribunal had earlier considered this issue in the order dated 01.12.2020 passed in OA No. 249/2020 in the matter of Tribunal on its own motion vs. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change & Ors. and connected original applications. Though, the issue was considered in the light of adverse effect of the fire crackers during the Covid Pandemic but some of the directions contained in Paragraph 32 of the order are general in nature which adequately take care of the grievance raised by the applicant.
6. It is also noticed that the Applicant is resident of Gurugram and after filing of the present OA, undisputedly, Gurugram District Administration has banned the manufacture, sale and use of all the fire crackers, except 2 green fire crackers with effect from 1st November, 2023 till 31st January, 2024. Hence, the Applicant is adequately protected by the said order.
7. Thus, in the circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that on the basis of the material available on record, at this stage, no case is made out to issue the comprehensive and blanket directions which have been prayed for in this OA. That apart, with the subsequent development after filing of the OA, the grievance of the Applicant has been substantially redressed.
8. The OA is accordingly disposed of.
Prakash Shrivastava, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM October 11, 2023 Original Application No. 606/2023 DV 3