NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said firecrackers other than green crackers will not be sold in the Delhi-NCR region this Diwali and other festivals and that firecrackers already produced can be sold in this festival season only in other parts of the country. Modifying its time limit order, the court said firecrackers can be burst from 4 AM to 5 AM and from 9 PM to 10 PM during festivals in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and other southern states.

The top court said that its direction on community bursting of firecrackers will apply pan India for two hours. In its October 23 order, the court had ordered that bursting of firecrackers on Diwali and other festivals would be only from 8 PM to 10 PM. The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court, urging it to allow bursting of firecrackers in the morning as Diwali in the state is celebrated in the morning.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said that the directions on the ban on sale of firecrackers through e-commerce websites will also apply pan India. The apex court in its October 23 order had said that e-commerce websites will be hauled up for contempt of court if they do not adhere to the court's direction, adding that the Station House Officers of police stations concerned will be held liable if banned firecrackers are sold in their area.

In the previous hearing, the advocates appearing for firecracker manufacturers had told the bench that the apex court had never intended to order complete ban on bursting of firecrackers on Diwali, but the composition of green crackers was not even finalised.

On October 9 last year, the top court had temporarily banned the sale of firecrackers ahead of Diwali. Later, the court refused to relax its order while dismissing a plea by traders who had sought permission to sell crackers for at least a day or two before Diwali on October 19, 2017. The apex court said its ban order during Diwali that year was an experiment to examine its effect on pollution levels in the region.

(With PTI inputs)