Supreme Court permits sale, use of inexperienced firecrackers in Delhi-NCR throughout Deepavali

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 15, 2025) relaxed its earlier blanket prohibition and permitted the sale and use of inexperienced firecrackers” within the Delhi–National Capital Region (NCR), topic to stringent situations.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice Okay. Vinod Chandran allowed the sale of inexperienced firecrackers between October 18 and October 21, stipulating that gross sales should happen solely at designated areas. The court docket additional restricted their use to the hours between 6-7 am and 8-10 pm.

Also Read | Complete ban on firecrackers doesn’t work, want balanced strategy: Supreme Court

The Bench made it clear that the sale of firecrackers by e-commerce platforms would stay strictly prohibited.

Explaining the rationale behind its resolution, the court docket noticed that an absolute ban had confirmed counterproductive, resulting in the smuggling of standard firecrackers that inflicted far larger injury on air high quality. “Conventional firecrackers are smuggled, which causes extra injury. We must take a balanced strategy,” the Bench mentioned.

In an earlier listening to, the Bench had signalled that it’d revisit its April 3 order, which had imposed a year-long ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of firecrackers within the nationwide capital. That order, handed by a Division Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, had reasoned {that a} restricted seasonal restriction would serve little objective, as gross sales and use of firecrackers would merely proceed outdoors the restricted interval.

The petitioners, together with the Federation of Fireworks Traders, the Association of Fireworks (Haryana), and the Indic Collective Trust, had contended that the ban was arbitrary and lacked a scientific foundation. They had argued that stubble burning and vehicular emissions have been far larger contributors to Delhi’s winter smog.

Last month, the Supreme Court had allowed producers with legitimate certifications from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) to renew manufacturing of inexperienced firecrackers, whereas sustaining the restriction on their sale throughout the NCR. The court docket had then noticed {that a} blanket ban, within the absence of an efficient enforcement mechanism, was impractical, and had directed the federal government to suggest a extra balanced regulatory framework.

Subsequently, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) knowledgeable the court docket that enforcement gaps persevered. It highlighted that sure producers have been allegedly promoting QR codes to unlicensed producers and that no strong mechanism existed to confirm whether or not licensed firecrackers have been really being offered available in the market.