State authorities cannot arbitrarily refuse fireworks permits for temple festivities when established judicial precedents exist, provided that the applicant ensures compliance with safety protocols, licensing conditions, and the use of authorized materials.

JUDGMENT

The impugned Orders are issued by the 1^st respondent/ District Collector, Palakkad refusing permit to respective petitioners for display of fireworks.

2. The learned Government Pleader would point out that the maximum number of objections are contained in the impugned Order in W.P.(C) No.17126/2026, produced as Ext.P7. The learned Government Pleader would point out that as per Ext.P7, the objections are as follows:

The first is that the petitioners can use only authorised crackers for the purpose of display. The second objection is that the applications are not filed two months prior to the date of display. The third objection is that the 1^st respondent, District Collector apprehends the user of certain substances, which are not permissible as per the rules. The fourth is that the list of the fire crackers has not been submitted by the petitioners. The fifth is with respect to the absence of a permanent magazine;

and the last one is paucity of time for sampling.

3. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioners, the learned Government Pleader for respondent Nos.1 to 7 and the learned Central Government Counsel for respondent Nos.8 and 9, this Court notice that the objections above referred are in the teeth of the findings of this Court in Exts.P3, P4 and P5 judgments and hence not sustainable. Since the issue has been dealt elaborately in the above referred judgments, the same exercise is not repeated. Consequently, the impugned Ext.P6 Orders in W.P.(C) No.16930/2026 and 16949/2026 and Ext.P7 Order in W.P.(C) No.17126/2026 will stand set aside. There will be a direction to respondent No.1, the District Collector to grant permission to the respective petitioners subject to the following conditions:

(i) The respective petitioners shall produce portable magazine/magazines to the satisfaction of the authorities for the storage of the fire works.

(ii) The petitioners shall satisfy all other requisite conditions for fireworks display under LE-6 license to the satisfaction of the authorities.

(iii) Before commencement of the fireworks display, barricades shall be put up at a distance of 100 metres of the display point on all sides and no one except the persons who are performing fireworks display shall be permitted into the prohibited area of 100 metres.

(iv) The quantity of the fireworks shall be limited to 15 kilograms.

(v) The police department and other statutory authorities shall supervise the entire fireworks display and issue necessary directions, if necessary.

(vi) In case of violation of any of the conditions, it will be open to the District Collector or other competent officials to take appropriate action in accordance with law.

4. As regards the inspection of the sample crackers, the petitioners, in all these cases, will produce the same before the 1^st respondent, today itself, by 05.00 p.m. The District Collector will stand directed to receive the samples, and do the needful for testing/identification of the same and to ascertain whether there is any objectionable material in the crackers. The above exercise shall be completed by 05.00 p.m. tomorrow (22.05.2026). The license to be granted as per the directions of this Court will be subject to the result of testing/verification. To enable the above referred exercise, if any of the three petitioners stand in need of adjourning the display or stop the event by a day or two, the same shall be done.

The learned Government Pleader will inform the gist of the judgment to the 1^st respondent forthwith.

These Writ Petitions will stand allowed, as indicated above.