Back
2019 Supreme(SC) 1512
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
S.A. Bobde, Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, Indira Banerjee, JJ.
Arjun Gopal & Ors. - Appellants
Versus
Union Of India & Ors. - Respondents
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 728 of 2015
Decided On : 11-04-2019
Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Ms. Pooja Dhar, Amit Bhandari, Ms. Gayatri V., Ms. Aishwarya Kane, ANS Nadkarni, Ld. ASG, Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv., Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Satyalipsu Ray, B. V. Balaram Das, Gurmeet Singh Makker, Raghvendra Singh, AG (UP), Ms. Charu Singhal, Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, (Petitioner-in-person), Abhishek Agarwal, Anubhav Kumar, Ankit Agarwal, For (M/s Manoj Swarup And Co.), Ms. Astha Sharma, (M/s Corporate Law Group), B. Krishna Prasad, Sarla Chandra, Vijay Panjwani, Ms. Charu Wali Khanna, Chirag M. Shroff, Rajiv Dutta, Sr. Adv., M. A. Chinnasamy, Ms. C. Rubavathi, V. Senthil Kumar, P. Raja Ram, K. Ethiraj, Rajul Shrivastav, Chirag M. Shroff, Ms. Neha Sangwan, Bijender Singh, Hitesh Kumar Sharma, S.K. Rajora, Ms. Rohini Musa, Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, Anoop Kandari, V. D. Khanna, Anish R. Shah, Sachin Mittal, Abhimanyu Bhandari, Devesh Tripathi, Ms. Roohina Dua, Mukeshwsar N. Dubey, Yoginder Handoo, (Applicant-in-person), Ms. Garima Bajaj, Ashok Kumar Gupta II, Suvidutt M.S., Mohinder Jit Singh, S. K. Verma, Yugandhara Pawar Jha, Anil Katiyar, Praveen Swarup, Ajay Bansal, AAG, Praveen Swarup, Gaurav Yadava, Ajay Kumar Giri, Anil Grover, AAG, Ms. Noopur Singhal, Satish Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Visen, Ms. Uttara Babbar, Ms. Bhavana Duhoon, Manan Bansal, D. N. Goburdhan, Ms. Gauri Goburdhan, Ms. Pallavi Chapra, B. V. Balaram Das, Ajay Kr. Pandey, Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Basant R., Sr. Adv., Ms. Liz Mathew, A. Karthik, Ms. Kiran Bhardwaj, K.N. Balgopal, Sr. Adv., G. Prakash, Jishnu M.L., Priyanka Prakash, Beena Prakash, Ms. Vandana Sehgal, Chandan Kumar, Gaurang Kanth, Ms. Kamakshi Sehgal, M. Yogesh Kanna, S. Partha Sarathi, S. Raja Rajeshwaran, Aswathi M.K., Arvind Kumar, Ashiesh Kumar, Dhruv Pall, Avijit Roy, Jayesh Gaurav, Ms. Diksho Ojha, Farrukh Rasheed, Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, Jayesh K. Unnikrishnan, Vijay Pratap Singh, Aviral Kashyap, Mirnal Kanthi Mondal, K.V. Jagdishvaran, Ms. G. Indira, Ms. Rangoli Seth, Abhimanyu Bhandari, Devesh Tripathi, Cheitanya Madan, Hitendra Nath Rath, Jogy Scaria, Ms. Beena Victor, K. Enatoli Sema, Amit Kumar Singh, K.V. Muthu Kumar, G.M. Kawoosa, M. Shoeb Alam, Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, Ms. Srija Choudhury, Sandeep, Jai Dehadrai, S.S. Rebello, Prashant Vaxish, Ms. Manisha Ambwani, Nikhil Nayyar, P.V. Yogeswaran, Ashish Kumar Upadhyay, Y. Lokesh, Babul Kumar, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Ms. Srishti Mishra, Raj Bahadur, Pradeep Misra, Manoj Sharma, Daleep Dhyani, Rahul Joshi, Ranjan Mukherjee, Ms. Aprajita Mukherjee, Ms. Aparna Rohatgi Jain, Mahesh Kasana, S.K. Dhingra, S.N. Bhat, Shishir Deshpande, Amit Yadav, Kaushal Narayan Mishra, Shuvodeep Roy, Kabir Shankar Bose, Rijuk Sarkar, Ranjan Mukherjee, Upendra Mishra, Subhro Sanyal, Sanjay Kumar, Ms. Supriya Juneja, Tayenjam Momo Singh, Ms. Usha Nandini V., V.G. Pragasam, Prabhu Ramasubramanian, S. Manuraj, Deepak Jain, Ms. Jaspreet Aulakh, Tanpreet Gulati, Ms. Twisha Issar, Ayush Acharjee, Ms. Shaila Arora, Vaibhav Manu Srivastava, C.S. Vaidyanathan, Sr. Adv., Balaji Srinivasan, AAG, Vinodh Kanna B., Ms. Pallavi Sengupta, Ms. S. Valarmathi, Mukesh Verma, Yash Pal Dhingra, Anubhav Kumar, Ms. Ankita Agarwal, Leishangthem Roshmani Kh., Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Ms. Naibam Babina, Advocates, for the Appearing Parties
The court's decision balanced environmental concerns with the continuation of traditional practices, emphasizing compliance with regulations.
Headnote:
Fireworks - Environmental Regulation - The court directed the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization (PESO) to grant approval for new formulation fireworks by a specified date, allowing fireworks manufacturers to start manufacturing firecrackers with the new formulation and after due permission from the concerned authorities.
Fact of the Case:
The court heard a prayer from fireworks manufacturers to permit the manufacture of fireworks with a Barium substitute to reduce pollution. The matter was under consideration of the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization (PESO).
Finding of the Court:
The court directed PESO to grant approval for new formulation fireworks by a specified date, allowing fireworks manufacturers to start manufacturing firecrackers with the new formulation and after due permission from the concerned authorities. The court also allowed temples to continue displaying fireworks for a festival, subject to certain conditions.
Issues: Prayer for permitting manufacture of fireworks with a Barium substitute, and the display of fireworks by temples during a festival.
Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was influenced by the consideration of reducing pollution and allowing the continuation of a traditional festival while ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
Final Decision: The court directed PESO to grant approval for new formulation fireworks, allowing manufacturers to start production and temples to continue displaying fireworks for the festival, subject to specified conditions.
JUDGMENT
1. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers' Association, the Union of India and other parties and perused the record. We have also heard Dr. Sadhana Rayalu, Chief Scientist & Head, Environment Materials Division, CSIR - National Environment Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur.
2. There is a prayer made on behalf of the fireworks manufacturers to permit manufacture of fireworks with Barium substitute i.e. Barium Nitrate. This is said to reduce the pollution to the extent of about 25 to 30 per cent. We are not inclined to allow this at this stage because it appears that the matter is still under consideration of the Petroleum and Explosive Safety organization (PESO) which has agreed to look into the best formulation that may be permissible for manufacture of firecrackers.
3. Learned counsel appearing for the PESO on the basis of the affidavit of the minutes of meeting dated 27.02.2019 wherein the PESO has agreed to grant approval for new formulation fireworks by 30th April, 2019. We consider it appropriate to direct the PESO to do so by that date.
4. Order accordingly.
5. Upon such approval of new formulation fireworks, the PESO shall submit the said approval to the Union of India and the fireworks manufacturers may start to manufacture firecrackers in accordance with the new formulation and after due permission from the concerned authorities. Any licensed manufacturer may apply for requisite approval in accordance with the relevant rules and orders. This order shall be subject to such orders after the PESO has granted the approval. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) may file a report before this Court in the month of 2019. These orders shall operate till such further orders that may be passed and shall not be construed to creating any equity in favour of anybody else.
6. List the matter in the month of August, 2019.
I.A. No.46203/2019 and I.A. No.46212/2019
7. Interlocutory application being I.A. No.46203/2019 for impleadment as party respondents is allowed.
8. I.A. No.46212/2019 is an application filed on behalf of the two applicants - temples viz., Thiruvambady Devaswom and Paramekkavu Devaswom in the State of Kerala.
9. According to Mr. R. Basant, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the applicants, these temples have been celebrating the 'Thrissur Pooram' festival since 1798. This festival falls between 7th May and 14th May, 2019.
10. It appears that displaying of fireworks has been an integral part of the celebration of this festival. Hence, we see no reason why the festivity should be suspended. It appears that the applicants-temples get the fireworks manufactured through their own licencees. They may do so subject to the written approval to be granted by the PESO recording the new formulation that can be used in the firecrackers. However, they shall ensure that barium is not used in the fireworks.
11. The applicants-temples must take care that the fireworks manufactured for the festivity are used and retained by them and do not find their way into the market. The PESO shall grant the approval within a period of three days from the date on which the applicants-temples move an application to it. The fireworks will be displayed according to the usual customs of the applicants-temples.
12. With the aforesaid directions, the interlocutory application being I.A. No.46212/2019 stands disposed of.
