Supreme Court Allows Green Crackers in Delhi-NCR for Diwali on November 7-8

The Supreme Court, in an order dated 29 October 2026, permitted the sale and bursting of approved green firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) for a limited window around Diwali, subject to a detailed set of enforcement and monitoring safeguards. A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale allowed the bursting of fireworks only between 6 am and 7 am and between 8 pm and 10 pm on 7 and 8 November, and directed that the complete ban resume on 9 November. The directions came in Arjun Gopal and Others v. Union of India and Others, the 2015 petition in which the Court has been regulating firecrackers in Delhi and other north Indian states affected by air pollution between October and January.

What the Court allowed

Bursting of approved green crackers only between 6-7 am and 8-10 pm on 7 and 8 November 2026 across Delhi-NCR; the complete ban resumes on 9 November.
Cancelled traders' licences will be temporarily restored from 4 to 6 November to facilitate the sale of approved green crackers.
Only firecracker manufacturers holding valid CSIR-NEERI and PESO certification may manufacture approved green crackers listed on CSIR-NEERI's website, and only from 2 to 6 November.
The order prohibits the bursting of firecrackers within 300 metres of hospitals, nursing homes, primary and district health centres, old-age homes and notified silence zones, and extends the restriction to educational institutions; these areas must be declared "No-Cracker Zones", marked on the ground and publicised.

Conditions and safeguards

Crackers must be packed in sealed boxes carrying product and batch-specific QR codes showing the manufacturer, registration, licence, formulation and test certificate; QR codes cannot be transferred or sold.
Manufacture or sale of crackers joined in series (ladis) and garlands is prohibited, as are barium-containing crackers and unapproved products.
Manufacturers and traders must furnish a substantial security deposit, with the amount fixed by the authorities; it will be forfeited for violations.
Sales must be confined to designated locations, and online sales are prohibited.
Authorities must check vehicles entering Delhi-NCR to prevent illegal supplies, while police patrols must inspect sales locations, verify QR codes, confiscate illegal crackers and initiate prosecutions against offenders.

Monitoring and compliance

The Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Boards must prepare daily air-quality reports for 2-6 November, 7-8 November and 9-30 November, collect sand and water samples for comparison, and repair defective monitoring stations immediately.
Authorities must explain on affidavit how they implemented the safeguards - security deposits, sales arrangements, vehicle checks and patrolling - and what action they took against violators.
The Court also sought pollution-monitoring reports and details of any increase in hospital admissions linked to firecracker pollution across Delhi-NCR up to 30 November; all reports and affidavits must be filed by 14 December 2026, with a warning of contempt action against responsible officials for non-compliance.

Why the Court relaxed the ban

The Bench noted that authorities had failed to provide adequate data on the prohibition's effectiveness or the impact of last year's trial relaxation.
It expressed concern that conventional crackers continued to be sold under green labels despite the ban, observing that the prohibition was facilitating illegal sales while preventing people from buying legitimate, tested green crackers.
The relaxation runs on the same lines as the Court's 15 October 2025 order in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, which had allowed the sale of NEERI-listed green crackers from 18 to 20 October 2025 as a temporary, test-case measure; this year's order extends that model with QR-code traceability and stricter compliance reporting.

Why this matters for UPSC

Environment and Article 21: The case sits within the Supreme Court's environmental jurisprudence under Article 21 of the Constitution, where the right to a clean environment is balanced against livelihood and festive practices - a recurring theme in GS-II polity and GS-III environment answers.
Green crackers: Green firecrackers are low-emission formulations developed by CSIR-NEERI, manufactured only by units certified by CSIR-NEERI and PESO; the QR-code traceability mandated in this order is a case study in technology-enabled regulation.
Judicial balancing: The order illustrates calibrated judicial intervention - regulated permission with measurable safeguards, security deposits and compliance affidavits - rather than an absolute ban, useful for Mains answers on pollution governance in Delhi-NCR.

Sources

Supreme Court order dated 29 October 2026 (uploaded 2 November) in Arjun Gopal v. Union of India (document hosted by LiveLaw): livelaw.in
Bar and Bench, 2 November 2026 (order dated 29 October 2026): barandbench.com
The Indian Express, 2 November 2026: indianexpress.com