pleaNew Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court today refusedto relax the ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi and thenational capital region till October 31.
The apex court dismissed the plea of firecracker traderswho had sought relaxation in the October 9 ban order andsought permission to sell crackers for at least a day or twobefore Diwali on October 19.
The top court also expressed pain over certain peopletrying to give its order a political colour, after advocatePrashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the parties, referredto certain statements made by some political leaders.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said thatrelaxing the ban order "would be against the very spirit" ofthe verdict passed by the top court.
The bench also said that people would burst firecrackerswhich they have purchased before the October 9 order.
"We are not going to relax the order as far as sale offirecrackers is concerned," the bench said and directed theDelhi Police to implement the order.
"Sale of firecrackers which has already taken placebefore the ban order. People will burst it and that will besufficient. Anyhow, it is not going to be a cracker-freeDiwali," the court said.
At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearingfor the firecracker traders, suggested to the bench that thesale of crackers should be allowed at least a day or twobefore Diwali.
He also suggested that the court could restrict the timefor bursting firecrackers or its sale.
The traders had on October 11 said their licences wererevived in pursuance of the court's order passed on September12 and they had procured firecrackers for sale during Diwali.
They had told the top court that a huge amount of moneyhas been invested by them after their licences were revivedand the latest order would cause massive loss to them.
The apex court, while banning the sale of firecrackerstill October 31, had said its September 12 order temporarilylifting the stay and permitting sale of firecrackers, would bemade effective only from November one.
It had said its November 11, 2016 order suspending thelicences "should be given one chance to test itself" to see ifthere is a positive effect of this, particularly duringDiwali. PTI ABA PKS MNL AGARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.