Supreme Court judge Vikram Nath said Delhi’s air will be very bad after Diwali on Wednesday. While discussing a hearing date, he noted that the environment is cleaner before the festival. Another bench will hear a plea on firecracker bans this Thursday as pollution concerns continue to worry the city.

Delhi’s air will be much worse after Diwali, commented Supreme Court judge Vikram Nath on Wednesday while entertaining a request to accommodate hearing of a matter for November 17.

The light-hearted comment by a bench headed by justice Vikram Nath exposed a sad reality of Capital’s deteriorating air quality. The issue of whether firecrackers will be allowed on Diwali this year is to be heard and decided by another bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

SC to hear plea on Diwali firecrackers on Thursday

Justice Nath said, “Post Diwali, the air in Delhi will be very bad.” He was responding to a request made by senior advocate Indira Jaising who appeared in a matter with a request to adjourn it to November 17.

The judge was willing to grant a date for the matter on November 3 as justice Nath, who is presently the senior most puisne judge in the Supreme Court, continued the light banter, “You come before Diwali, the environment would be cleaner. After Diwali, it will be worse.”

But the senior counsel remarked that before Diwali too, it will be no better. “Diwali is an extremely polluted time in Delhi. Please have the matter on November 17.” Continuing the light-hearted conversation with the bench, Jaising remarked, “Your lordships already have to suffer the bad air.”

As Jaising was appearing virtually before the court through the videoconferencing facility, justice Nath quipped, “You have the privilege of sitting at home and saving yourselves from the pollution. But we can’t sit at home.”

The issue of pollution in Delhi is being monitored by the Supreme Court in a suo motu proceeding arising from a petition filed by advocate MC Mehta. Along with this, in 2015, a petition was filed by three toddlers seeking a complete ban on firecrackers owing to the detrimental effect on children, aged and sick persons who face breathing and other health related complications.

Incidentally, both these matters are listed before a bench headed by justice MM Sundresh on Thursday. Under orders passed in the MC Mehta petition, there is a ban on bursting, sale and distribution of firecrackers in Delhi, extending further to the national capital region. Last year, a window was provided by the court for sale and bursting of crackers during Diwali in order to strike a balance between the right to health of citizens and the celebrations surrounding the right to observe festivals and religious beliefs.

This year too, the fireworks retailers have requested the court for a similar arrangement demanding that under monitoring of the court, specified dates could be allotted for sale of crackers and its bursting be regulated during specified times. This issue will be decided on Thursday.

SC calls for ‘practical and pragmatic’ approach

Early this month, the court indicated that banning firecrackers needs a “practical and pragmatic” approach. It emphasised that religious sentiments cannot be hurt and at the same time, the health of citizens must be taken into consideration by promoting the use of green crackers that are less harmful to public health.

While striking this middle path, the Centre has submitted formulations of improved crackers having less emission by involving experts including CSIR-NEERI, PESO and CPCB. The experts have presented formulations for next generation joined crackers, which are less polluting than conventional joined crackers (lari). They are presently undertaking studies on the reduced use of barium in firecrackers, for which open ground testing is being conducted across multiple places in the country.