Centre Seeks Permission From SC to Allow Green Crackers in NCR During Festivals

Key Points

The Centre sought permission from the Supreme Court on Friday, 10 October 2025, to allow citizens of Delhi-NCR to conditionally buy and burst ‘green crackers’ on special occasions. The proposal comes right at the beginning of Diwali season and aims to strike a balance between controlling pollution, allowing traditional celebrations, and ensuring the livelihood of firework manufacturers.

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of CJI B.R. Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran that the government is not asking for a blanket relaxation. Instead, it wants permission for a restricted sale and use of certified green crackers – those that emit less smoke and noise – clarifying that bans on joint crackers and ‘laris’ should continue. He said this could help ease tensions between environmental concerns and the livelihoods of manufacturers who have suffered due to the complete ban.

The Centre also suggested strict rules for timing — people could burst crackers between 8 to 10pm on Diwali, 11:55pm to 12:30am on New Year’s Eve and Christmas, and 4 to 5am and 9 to 10pm on Gurpurab. SG Mehta further requested that green crackers be permitted at wedding and other special occasions.

Under the proposal, only green crackers approved by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) would be allowed in the NCR. These could be sold only through licensed shops, not online platforms – this would be enforced by the Delhi government, NCR State governments, and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO). Surprise inspections would be conducted across manufacturing, storage, and retail locations.

See Also: What should you do if crackers cause an eye injury?

The government added that all cracker packets would carry QR codes for easy tracking and that enforcement teams could conduct surprise checks to ensure only permitted varieties were being sold. It proposed awareness drives through mobile apps and local campaigns to help people report violations. It also mentioned that NEERI would continue to develop lower emission crackers.

The SC did not give an immediate order and reserved its decision. During the hearing, CJI Gavai asked whether the ban, in place since 2018, had actually improved Delhi’s air quality. He questioned if the complete restriction had achieved its intended goal or only pushed the sale of crackers underground.

This is not the first time the issue has come up before the court. In April 2025, the SC had upheld a strict ban on all firecrackers in the region, citing the severe impact of winter pollution. On 12 September 2025, the court had heard a petition filed by manufacturers like the Federation of Fireworks Traders, the Association of Fireworks (Haryana), and the Indic Collective Trust, which questioned the reasoning behind the ban and argued that it was severely impacting their livelihoods.

On 26 September 2025, the Supreme Court had allowed manufacturers to continue making green crackers but said they could not be sold in Delhi-NCR without the court’s permission. [Rh/Eth/DS]

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