Referring to news reports of Delhi’s air quality having slipped to ‘hazardous’ level, the Madras High Court Bench here on Monday said that it shall pass comprehensive orders relating to production, storage and sale of fireworks on a suo motu public interest litigation petition pending before it. The order shall also attempt to find a solution to controlling smoke that rises the concentration of metallic particles in the atmosphere, the Bench said.
Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran expressed happiness over not even a single fire accident having been reported from any part of the State after they converted into PIL petition a news report that appeared in The Hindu on October 21 with respect to an accident that claimed nine lives at a scan centre situated close to a fireworks shop at Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district and directed the State government to ensure that no firework unit or shop flouted rules.
Officials’ duties
“At least this year, we had accident-free Deepavali. But officials must understand that they need not expect orders from the court to perform their duties. They should not wait for the court’s intervention to do what they were lawfully supposed to do. They must regulate it on their own,” Mr. Justice Nagamuthu told a Special Government Pleader who submitted a report with respect to Tiruchi city alone for which a separate PIL petition had been filed by a resident for regulating fireworks shops.
Senior counsel, representing the PIL petitioner, told the court that most of the directions issued by the court were complied with by the officials in Tiruchi city though a fireworks shop established inside a shopping mall was not closed.
After taking note of his submission, the judge said that his Division Bench shall pass comprehensive orders regulating the production and sale of fireworks so that it could serve as a standard guideline for the future.
Also referring to news reports of Delhi having been choked by a worst spell of smog, the judge said: “We should not allow that to happen here but the problem is how to spot fireworks that emit lot of smoke in the air and what could be the level to which such smoke could be emitted. We shall analyse all these factors and pass a comprehensive order. Any lawyer, who has scientific material, could assist the court,” the judge said and adjourned the hearing to November 11.
