Observing that the State government’s order of allowing sale and bursting of only “green crackers” is prima facie “ineffective” as the government has not specified what are “green crackers”, the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the government to clarify on it by Friday morning.
The court said the petitioner, who has sought a ban on firecrackers in Karnataka, should have approached the court earlier as it is too late to issue directions similar to the ones issued by the High Court of Calcutta, which had banned sale and use of firecrackers in West Bengal during this festival season in view of COVID-19 pandemic.
It would be difficult to issue any drastic order at this stage as many people would have already purchased firecrackers and arrangements would have been already made for sale, said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty.
The Bench was hearing a PIL petition filed by 68-year-old A.S. Vishnu Bharath, a resident of Jayanagar in the city.
Meanwhile, the Bench observed that the government must have taken stringent steps as air pollution owing to bursting of crackers may create a situation which may lead to spread of COVID-19.
Earlier, the government informed the guidelines on sale and use of crackers in view of COVID-19 while clarifying that ban on crackers in Karnataka was not warranted as the National Green Tribunal has banned the sale and use only in those cities where the air quality index has been classified as “poor” or below and none of the cities in the State fall in such air pollution categories. Further hearing was adjourned till Friday.
