The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Calcutta High Court order banning firecrackers during Kali Puja, Diwali and other festivals this year to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The apex court said that firecrackers that are environmental friendly are allowed.

A special bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi also asked the West Bengal government to explore the possibility to ensure that banned firecrackers and related items are not imported in the state at the entry point itself.

The bench, which assembled during the Diwali break to hear the matter, was hearing the pleas against the October 29 order of the high court banning the sale, use and purchase of all types of firecrackers in the state.

Calcutta High Court had on Saturday banned the use of all forms of firecrackers, including green crackers, in celebrating the upcoming occasions of Diwali, Kali Puja, Chaath Puja, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

"The state should ensure that there is no use or display or bursting of firecrackers of any type at all during Kali Puja, Diwali celebrations as well as Chhath Puja, Jagadhatri Puja, Guru Nanak's birthday and Christmas and New Year's eve celebrations this year," the high court had said.

A division bench said that “only wax or oil-based diyas might be used”.

The cracker ban, which covered the whole of Bengal, would have applied to Jagaddhatri Puja and Guru Nanak’s birthday as well.

The bench gave primacy to the “right to live” and citizens’ larger interests, choosing to overlook the “smaller interest” of those dependent on the firecracker industry.

“We are not convinced that firecrackers of any form, either green or of any other category, ought to be permitted to be used during the coming festive season,” the bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Aniruddha Roy said, passing an order on a batch of public interest litigation petitions.

The order cited the “pandemic situation, which is getting marginally worse by the day” and “the fact that even moderate Air Quality Index (AQI) can cause severe difficulties for people suffering from respiratory problems”.

On Wednesday, the state pollution control board had issued a directive banning all types of fireworks, except “green fireworks” that could be burst for two hours from 8pm on Diwali (November 4).

But the division bench of Justices Bhattacharyya and Roy had said that even green crackers would not be allowed, adding that It would be an impossible task for the police and/ or law-enforcement agencies to ascertain the veracity of the certificates of the crackers.

On the livelihood of those dependent on the firecracker industry, the order said: “It is submitted that keeping in view the larger interest of the citizens of the state, the smaller interest of the firecracker manufacturers and all concerned with such business might be overlooked.”

The bench observed: “Right to live is the fundamental right of the people. This right cannot be curbed by allowing the firecrackers to be used.”

It had said that many were suffering from breathing problems amid the pandemic. “Their problem will further increase if firecrackers are allowed (on) festive days.”