The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to relax the
ban imposed on the manufacture, storage and sale on firecrackers in Delhi-NCR
noting air pollution levels had remained alarming for a considerable time.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan
said a large section of the population worked on streets and was the worst
affected by pollution.
Not everybody can afford an air purifier at their
residence or place of work to fight pollution, the bench said.
"Several orders passed by this court during
last six months bring on the record the horrible situation with which prevailed
in Delhi due to very high levels of air pollution...Right to health is an
essential part of Article 21 of the constitution so is the Right to live in a
pollution free atmosphere," the court said.
Unless the court was satisfied that the pollution
due to the "so-called" green crackers was bare minimum, there was no
question of reconsidering the previous orders, it added.
The top court said the orders passed from time to
time would indicate that the directions and ban on the use of firecrackers was
warranted by an "extraordinary situation" created in Delhi.