Just two days ahead of Diwali, the Orissa High Court on Monday allowed sale, purchase and bursting of ‘green crackers’ in the State but with certain riders. While banning sale and use of other fireworks, the court said the celebrations shall be observed with only ‘green fireworks’ that conforms to the definition and formulation as proposed by CSIR-NEERI (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute).
Disposing of a writ petition filed by the All Odisha Fireworks Dealers’ Association and others, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar further said that only those traders and dealers, who obtain a certificate from the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (PESO) and produce that certificate with district authorities, shall be allowed to sell fireworks at designated places following Covid-19 protocols.
When pointed out by the petitioner’s counsel that the PESO may not be able to comply with the daunting task of issuing the certificates after due inspection of the stocks lying in possession of the traders and dealers with a relatively small team of officers in a short span of time, the court said, “It will be open to PESO to expand its team of personnel to implement the directions, considering that this is a festival time.”
On September 30, the State Government had ordered for a complete ban on sale and use of fireworks.
On the petition of challenging the order, the HC last week had asked the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) to decide on the issue by November 1 in the light of the recent directive of the Supreme Court in the Arjun Gopal case. The SRC’s report stated that the Government has allowed sale and use of only ‘green fireworks’.