The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a ban on the sale and use of all firecrackers during Diwali, Chhath Puja and other festivities to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A division bench comprising justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Aniruddha Roy directed the police to initiate legal action against anyone found violating the ban after having confiscated the crackers.
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This order thus nullifies a recent notification by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board that allowed the use of "green" firecrackers for a limited period of time on Diwali and Kali Puja.
The bench passed the order on a petition seeking re-imposition of the ban on firecrackers, as was ordered by the court in 2020.