Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 6 May, 2025
Author: Abhay S. Oka
Bench: Abhay S. Oka
ITEM NO.41 COURT NO.4 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 13029/1985
M.C. MEHTA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
[TO BE TAKEN UP AT 12:00 NOON] ................................ IN
RE: BAN ON USE OF FIRECRACKERS AND IN RE: STUBBLE BURNING AND IN
RE: VEHICULAR POLLUTION NAME OF THE FOLLOWING ADVOCATES MAY BE
TREATED TO HAVE BEEN SHOWN IN THE LIST: MR. HARISH N. SALVE, SR.
ADVOCATE (A.C.) MS. APARAJITA SINGH, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MS. UTTARA
BABBAR, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. A.D.N. RAO, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MS.
SHIBANI GHOSH, ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. SIDDHARTHA CHOWDHURY, ADVOCATE
(A.C.) MR. G.S. MAKKER, MR. AMRISH KUMAR, MR. M.K. MARORIA, MR.
SANJAY KR. VISEN, MR. SUDEEP KUMAR, MR. KARAN SHARMA, MR. SANDEEP
KR. JHA, MR. JYOTI MENDIRATTA, MR. RAHUL KHURANA, ADVOCATES
Date : 06-05-2025 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ABHAY S. OKA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE UJJAL BHUYAN
Ms. Aparajita Singh,Sr.Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
Ms. Uttara Babbar,Sr.Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
Mr. A.D.N.Rao,Sr.Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
Ms. Shibani Ghosh,Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury,Adv.
For the parties :
Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli,Sr.Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.
Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.
Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv.
Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kr.singh, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR
Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Ms. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Digitally signed by
ANITA MALHOTRA
Date: 2025.05.09
Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
10:23:28 IST
Reason: Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv.
Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
1
Mr. Vineet Singh,Adv.
Mr. Jagdish Chandra, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Mr. Chitransh Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Chitrangda Rastravara, Adv.
Ms. Shivika Mehra, Adv.
Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv.
Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv.
Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR
Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Kumar B, Adv.
Ms. Baby Devi Bonia, Adv.
Ms. Manisha Chava,Adv.
Mr. Abhinav Aggarwal,Adv.
Ms. Alka Agrawal,Adv.
Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR
Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G.
Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR
Ms. Manisha, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Mehra, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Prashant Manchanda, A.A.G.
Mr. Vivek Jain, D.A.G.
Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR
Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G.
Mr. B.k. Satija, A.A.G.
Mr. Rakesh Kumar Mudgal, A.A.G.
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR
Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv.
Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Drishti Saraf, Adv.
Ms. Pragya Upadhyay, Adv.
Ms. Aakanksha, Adv.
Ms. Ishika Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Sarthak Arya, Adv.
Mr. Ravi Vashisht, Adv.
Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G.
Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv.
Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv.
Ms. Awanitika, Adv.
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR
Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR
Ms. Ananyha Basudha,Adv.
2
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G.
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv.
Applicant-in-person
Petitioner-in-person
Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR
Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR
Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv.
Mr. Santhosh K, Adv.
Mr. Sushil Kumar Singh, AOR
Mr. Hardeep Singh Anand, AOR
Mr. Sandeep Narain, AOR
Ms. Nandini Gidwaney, AOR
Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR
Mr. G. Prakash, AOR
Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR
Mr. Shri Narain, AOR
Mr. Umesh Kumar Khaitan, AOR
Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR
Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR
Mrs. K. Sarada Devi, AOR
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR
Mrs. Priya Puri, AOR
M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR
3
Mr. T. V. Ratnam, AOR
Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR
Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, AOR
Mr. Ravindra Bana, AOR
Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR
Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain, AOR
Mr. Aniruddha Deshmukh, AOR
Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR
Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR
Mr. Surya Kant, AOR
Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR
Mr. Abhishek, AOR
Mr. Pramod Dayal, AOR
Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR
Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR
Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR
Mr. Rakesh Kumar-i, AOR
Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR
M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR
Mr. Pavan Kumar, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Neelam, Adv.
Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR
M/S. Saharya & Co., AOR
Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR
4
Mr. Sandeep Narain, Adv.
Ms. Kanak Malik, Adv.
For M/S. S. Narain & Co., AOR
Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR
Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Wasim S. Qadri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv.
Ms. Arunima Das, Adv.
Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv.
Ms. Bhumika Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR
Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR
Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR
Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR
Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR
Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR
Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR
Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR
Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, AOR
Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR
Mr. Mandaar Mukesh Giri, Adv.
Ms. Adviteeya, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR
Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, AOR
Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR
M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
Mr. Sudhir Mendiratta, AOR
Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR
5
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR
Mr. Deepayan Mandal, AOR
Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR
Mr. Shashank Singh, Adv.
Mr. Gaurav Choudhary, AOR
Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR
Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv.
Ms. Neha Das, Adv.
Mr. Shivam Saksena, Adv.
Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv.
Mr. Aravindh S., AOR
Mr. Abbas B, Adv.
Mr. Aman Gautam, Adv.
Ms. Meenakshi Chauhan, AOR
M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR
Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR
Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR
Mr. Subhro Sanyal, AOR
Mr. Rakesh Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Sagar Roy,Adv.
Mr. Gajendra Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Sunil Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Vinodh Kanna B., AOR
Mr. Prasanna S., AOR
Ms. Shalu Sharma, AOR
Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR
Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR
Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
Mr. Keshav Singh, Adv.
Mr. B.P Naidu, Adv.
6
Mr. Rishi Sehgal, AOR
Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR
Mr. Prashant Alai, Adv.
Mr. Gaurav, AOR
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Charu Ambwani, AOR
Mr. Yoginder Handoo, AOR
Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR
Mr. Nakul Mohta, Adv.
Mr. Amulya Upadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Ayush Kahsyap, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Singh, AOR
Ms. Mithu Jain, AOR
Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR
Mr. Shashikant Pralhad Chaudhari, Adv.
Mr. Akhil Anand, AOR
Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Singh, Adv.
Mr. Ambuj Swaroop, Adv.
Mr. Shivam Ganeshia, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Yadav, Adv.
Mr. M A Chaudhary, Adv.
Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR
Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR
Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv.
Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Dev Aaryan, Adv.
Ms. Divya Jyoti Singh, AOR
Mr. Anuj Bhandari, AOR
7
Mr. Ravi Prakash, AOR
Ms. N. Annapoorani, AOR
Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR
M/S. Ahmadi Law Offices, AOR
Ms. Vanya Gupta , AOR
Ms. Kajal Dalal, AOR
Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR
Mr. Akshay Girish Ringe, AOR
Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR
Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR
Mr. Rakesh Kumar-i, AOR
Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv.
Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.
Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR
Ms. Neeru Vaid, AOR
Ms. Komal Mundhra, Adv.
Mr. Ashutosh Rana, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Devansh Srivastava, AOR
Ms. Divya Roy, AOR
Ms. Shagun Matta, AOR
Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR
Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Maurya, Adv.
Ms. Kshama Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Ujjwal Ashutosh, Adv.
Ms. Lubna Naaz, AOR
8
Mr. Parminder Singh Bhullar, AOR
Mr. Shantanu Jugtawat, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Chandrakant Sukumar Sarkar, Adv.
Mr. Jeetendra Kumar, Adv.
Mrs. Kajal Rani, Adv.
Mr. Narendra Kumar Goyal, Adv.
Mr. C.M. Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Naveen Yadav, Adv.
For M/S. Mukesh Kumar Singh And Co., AOR
Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR
Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR
Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR
M/S. Lex Regis Law Offices, AOR
Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR
Mr. Sandeep Narain, Adv.
Ms. Kanak Malik, Adv.
For M/S. S. Narain & Co., AOR
Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR
Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR
Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR
Ms. Aastha Mehta, Adv.
Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR
Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv.
Ms. Prerana Mohapatra, Adv.
Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv.
Ms. Prina Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR
Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Kumar Dushyant Singh, AOR
Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR
Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR
Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR
9
M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR
Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR
Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR
Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv.
Ms. Filza Moonis, AOR
Mr. Divyanshu Kumar Srivastava, AOR
Mr. Saurabh Pandey, Adv.
Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR
Ms. Astha Tyagi, AOR
Mr. Ayush Sharma, AOR
Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR
Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR
Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv.
Mr. Anupam Misra, Adv.
Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv.
Mr. Veer Vikrant, D.A.G.
Mr. Yashraj Singh Bundela, AOR
Ms. Saloni, Adv.
Mr. Arpit Garg, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Sharma, Adv.
Mr. S S Bandyopadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Syed Miran Ahmad, Adv.
Mr. Abhaya Nath Das, Adv.
Mr. Kishor Kumar Mishra, Adv.
Dr. Aditya Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Mohammed Abrar Ahmed Khan, Adv.
Ms. Riya Soni, Adv.
Mrs. Barnali Basak, Adv.
Mr. Boya Kranthi Naidu, Adv.
Mr. Om Prakash Sapra, Adv.
Ms. Swagoti Batchas, Adv.
Mr. Bhupendra Pathak, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR
10
Ms. Ameyavikrama Thanvi , AOR
Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Ravi Shanker Jha, Adv.
Mr. Harsh V. Surana, AOR
Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR
Mr. Rajiv Yadav, AOR
Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR
Ms. Debarati Sadhu, Adv.
Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR
Ms. Puja Sharma, AOR
Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR
Mr. D.Kumanan, AOR
Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR
Ms. Ishita Jain , AOR
Mr. Manish Kumar Gupta, AOR
Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR
Ms. M. Harshini, Adv.
Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv.
Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.
Mr. Rishi Matoliya, AOR
Mr. Anurag Kishore, AOR
Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR
Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR
Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR
Ms. Rooh-e-hina Dua, AOR
Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR
11
Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR
Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv.
Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR
Mr. M. P. Devanath, AOR
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Srishti Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Sumeet Mishra, Adv.
Mr. R. C. Kohli, AOR
Ms. Nidhi Mohan Parashar, AOR
Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR
Ms. Anushree Prashit Kapadia, AOR
Dr. Brij Bhushan K Jauhari, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Jyoti Ghildiyal, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Mahan, Adv.
Mr. O P Singh, Adv.
Ms. Purnima Jauhari, AOR
Mr. Danish Zubair Khan, AOR
Dr. Lokendra Malik, Adv.
Mr. Vikas Mehta, AOR
Mr. Varun Singh, Adv.
Ms. Kajal S Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR
Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR
Mr. Shantwanu Singh, AOR
Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR
Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv.
Mr. P Rohit Ram, Adv.
Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, AOR
Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR
Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR
12
Ms. Manali Singhal, Adv.
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR
Ms. Aanchal Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Ketan Paul, AOR
Mr. Hiren Dasan, AOR
Mr. Ajay Vikram Singh, AOR
Mrs. Priyanka Singh, Adv.
Mr. M Aamir Faiyaz, Adv.
Ms. Swati, Adv.
Mr. Kamlesh Kumar Maurya, Adv.
Ms. Jyotsna Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Niraj Gupta, AOR
Mrs. Anshu Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Shubham Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR
Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR
Ms. Surabhi Sanchita, AOR
Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR
Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv.
Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv.
Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
For M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR
Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR
Mr. Durga Dutt, AOR
Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR
Ms. Malvika Kapila, AOR
Mr. K. Paari Vendhan, AOR
Mr. Varun Singh, Adv.
Ms. Kajal S Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR
Mr. Kawaljit Singh Bhatia, AOR
Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR
13
Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR
Mr. Prakash Ranjan Nayak, AOR
Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR
Mr. Sameer Kumar, AOR
Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, AOR
Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR
Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv.
Mr. Shankey Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Ankit Roy , AOR
Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR
Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR
Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv.
Ms. G. Indira, AOR
Mr. Aakarshan Aditya, AOR
Mr. Mukesh Verma, Adv.
Mrs. Vatsala Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Manisha, Adv.
Mr. Premchand Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Prakash Dubay, Adv.
Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR
Mrs. Rajshri Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. Amit P Shahi, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv.
Mr. H B Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Sethi, Adv.
Mr. Shashibhushan Nagar, Adv.
Mr. Sumant A Khan, Adv.
Mrs. Sona Khan, Adv.
Mr. Rajendra Anbhule, Adv.
Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR
14
Mr. Nitin Saluja, AOR
Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, AOR
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Mr. Dhananjaya Mishra, AOR
Mr. Rahul Khurana, AOR
Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR
Ms. G. Indira, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
IA Nos.56399/2025 and 56401/2025 – (FOR INTERVENTION AND EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)
1. IA No.56399/2025 seeks relief against unauthorised firecracker manufacturing, storing, selling etc. within the State of West Bengal. In this Public Interest Litigation, we are not dealing with the issues concerning the State of West Bengal. Hence, the applications are rejected.
2. However, the remedies of the applicant are kept open.
IN RE: VEHICULAR POLLUTION
3. We have taken on record two documents. The first is a brief note of measures taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management (for short, “the CAQM”) and the second is an Index of relevant Office Memorandum and letters with respect to the issue of usage of electric 15 vehicles by the Government. Direction Nos. 88 and 89 issued by the CAQM on 23rd April, 2025 constitute a very welcome step in a right and positive direction. We need to issue directions for implementation of direction Nos. 88 and 89. We also need to issue directions for implemenation Advisory No.17 issued by the CAQM on 2nd May, 2025.
4. In the meanwhile, we direct the concerned State Governments and public authorities who are represented before us to place on record the data of electric vehicles purchased by these entities during the last five years. While placing the data before the Court, total number of vehicles hired or leased during this period shall also be placed on record. As far as the Union of India is concerned, data of five years shall be collected by the Department of Expenditure.
5. In the meanwhile, the CAQM and the other authorities will respond to the directions sought in the note prepared for today’s hearing by the learned Amicus Curiae.
6. List on 15th May, 2025 at 2.00 p.m. IN RE: BAN ON USE OF FIRECRACKERS
7. Now, we are dealing with the issue of ban on manufacturing, sale and use of firecrackers in the National Capital Region. Directions were issued by this Court under the order dated 3rd April, 2025. The 16 Government of Delhi has filed an affidavit of compliance in which reliance is placed on the directions issued under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 dated 19th December, 2024 by which a complete ban is imposed on manufacturing, storage, selling (including delivery through online marketing platforms) of all kind of firecrackers and bursting of firecrackers in National Capital Territory of Delhi throughout the year.
8. We direct the States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to issue similar directions under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 in relation to the areas falling in the National Capital region. Such direction shall be issued within a maximum period of one month from today.
9. Once such directions are issued, it follows that not only the orders of this Court but the directions issued under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 must be strictly implemented and enforced by all the law enforcing machineries of the States. The State of Rajasthan has filed an affidavit setting out the steps taken to create a machinery and mechanism for enforcing the ban on firecrackers. The State of Delhi has taken certain steps by issuing letters dated 7th January, 2025.
10. As expressed earlier, these State Governments shall not only ensure strict implementation of the ban on firecrackers but must create a machinery to implement the orders of this Court as well as the directions under 17 Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. These States shall create a Grievance Redress Mechanism which will enable the citizens to complain about the violation of the directions regarding ban on firecrackers. Even this machinery providing for Grievance Redress Mechanism shall be created within a period of one month from today.
11. We make it clear that breach of directions under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 shall be taken to its logical conclusion by ensuring that penalty as provided under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 is imposed on the violators. We also make it clear that the failure on the part of the officials of these Governments and other entities to implement the directions issued by this Court will invite an action under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Comprehensive compliance shall be filed by all the State Governments forming part of the National Capital Region with these directions and earlier directions issued by this Court by 15th July, 2025.
12. We also direct the State Governments to periodically give wide publicity to the ban on firecrackers imposed by this Court as well as under the directions issued under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Publicity to the availability of grievance redressal mechanism shall also be given. 18
13. At this stage, the learned counsel appearing for the State of Haryana pointed out that even the State of Haryana has filed an affidavit in terms of the directions issued in terms of this Court’s order dated 28th February, 2025. He stated that an order under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act has already been issued. IN RE: STUBBLE BURNING
14. As far as the issue of stubble burning is concerned, our attention is invited to this Court’s order dated 3rd April, 2025 and, in particular, paragraphs 21 and 22. In response to that, now there is an affidavit filed by the Union of India through the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
15. In view of the stand taken in the affidavit, we permit the State of Punjab to file a proper application seeking directions against the Union of India to release the funds. Only after such an application is made, proper adjudication can be made. Needless to add that grounds for entitlement to receive the grant from the Union of India shall be made out in the application.
16. We direct the State Governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to report compliance with the directions contained in paragraph 18 of the order dated 3rd April, 2025.
19 IN RE: ISSUE OF SMOG TOWERS
17. This issue will be considered on 15th May, 2025 at 2.00 p.m. (ANITA MALHOTRA) (AVGV RAMU) AR-CUM-PS COURT MASTER 20