India's Supreme Court permits limited sale of green firecrackers for Diwali

The Supreme Court of India issued an order on Oct. 29 allowing residents of Delhi and the National Capital Region to buy and burst approved “green crackers” for two days, Nov. 7 and 8, during limited morning (6:00-7:00 AM) and evening (8:00-10:00 PM) periods. The decision follows a long-running litigation that began in 2015 when three infants’ families petitioned the court on health grounds, invoking Article 21’s right to life.

Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale examined references to Diwali in the Skandapurana and Padmapurana, noting that the ancient texts describe earthen lamps (deepas) and do not mention modern pyrotechnic devices that originated with gunpowder. The bench concluded that contemporary firecrackers lack scriptural basis and that their particulate emissions pose health risks, especially in Delhi’s winter temperature inversions.

Despite these findings, the court granted a temporary relaxation of the blanket ban, restoring retail licences for “green crackers” certified by CSIR-NEERI. The products are claimed to reduce particulate emissions by about 30 % compared with conventional firecrackers, though the court warned that this reduction does not translate into a comparable drop in city-wide air pollution.

The order also directed the government to enforce QR-code licensing, establish 300-metre buffers around hospitals, and submit daily air-quality and hospital-admission data by mid-December. The bench suggested that public-awareness campaigns, possibly involving prominent figures such as cricketer Virat Kohli, could help encourage compliance.

Senior advocates for the petitioners highlighted that previous test-run relaxations in 2025 produced no enforcement data, and that illegal firecrackers continued to be sold. The court acknowledged the difficulty of policing millions of cartons in crowded markets and, in a separate hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant remarked that more orders might lead to more violations, urging local municipal councillors to promote voluntary compliance.

The ruling reflects the court’s ongoing effort to balance religious practices with public-health concerns, emphasizing that the right to life includes a safe, breathable environment under Article 21.