SC sets firecracker hours for festivals DIFFERENT WINDOW FOR CHRISTMAS Cracker curfew before 8pm and after 10pm

TT, New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that firecrackers can be burst in the country for only two hours this Diwali, between 8 pm and 10 pm, and that in Delhi these must be restricted to "community" sites to be notified by the authorities within a week.

A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan also fixed the timings for bursting crackers on Christmas and New Year's Eve and said all other festivals, including Gurpurab, would follow the same time as Diwali. The time restriction applies across the country. In Delhi and the National Capital Region, only crackers with "reduced emission" as specified by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), a Government of India department, will be permitted. High-decibel crackers and those joined in a series popularly known as "ladees or loris" are also banned in the national capital, which has become one of the most polluted cities in the world.

The order came on a batch of PILs seeking a ban on the use of crackers during Diwali on the ground that it was one of the principal factors for the rising pollution.

Sale of crackers in the national capital shall only be through licensed offline traders and there should not be any sale of crackers through online trading companies such as Flipkart and Amazon, the court said.

Station House Officers of the respective police stations would be personally held liable for contempt if the orders are breached, said Justice A.K. Sikri, writing the judgment.

"On Diwali days or on any other festivals like Gurpurab etc., when such fireworks generally take place, it would strictly be from 8pm till 10pm only. On Christmas eve and New Year's eve, when such fireworks start around midnight, i.e. 12am, it would be from 11.55pm till 12.30am only.

"It is made clear that direction... pertaining to the duration within which fireworks can take place on all such occasions would be applicable throughout India," Justice Sikri said.

The manufacturers had argued that bursting of crackers was an inherent right of citizens to practise/profess their religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution.