The Supreme Court refused to budge from its earlier order of banning firecrackers in Delhi-NCR even after a group of traders, on 11 October, moved the apex court seeking modification of the order. The SC said the ban shall continue till they assess the pollution levels post Diwali.
The apex court had on 9 October ordered a ban on the sale of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region till 1 November.
The traders told the apex court that their licences were revived in pursuance of the apex court's order passed in 12 September and they had already procured firecrackers for sale during Diwali.
A bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi, AM Sapre, and Navin Sinha assured the counsel for the traders that it would consult the judge concerned, who had passed the order, for placing their interim application for urgent hearing.
Lawyer Deepak Chauhan, representing trader Rajesh Kalia and several others, said that a huge amount of money has been invested by them after their licences were revived and the recent order of the apex court would cause them huge losses.
The court had also said that its 12 September order temporarily lifting the stay and permitting sale of firecrackers, would be made effective only from 1 November.
The court had said that the 11 November 2016 order suspending the licences “should be given one chance to test itself” to see if there would be a positive effect of this, particularly during Diwali.
The court, in its 2016 direction, had suspended all licenses which permit sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail, within the territory of NCR till further orders.
It had said that the 11 November 2016 order, suspending all licences which "permit sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail within the territory of NCR", was passed by the court keeping in view the situation that had arisen after last Diwali.
(This story has been updated.)
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