SC to hear plea to restore ban on firecrackers in Delhi NCR

New Delhi: With Diwali around the corner, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it would on Friday hear a plea seeking restoration of its last year's order banning firecrackers in the Delhi-National Capital Region.

The plea has also sought a recall of last month's apex court verdict which had temporarily lifted the order of November 11, 2016, suspending permanent licences for sale of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan and lawyer Gopal Shankarnarayanan, appearing for the petitioner, said last year's order should continue.

The apex court had then suspended all licences which "permit the sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail within the territory of NCR".

During the brief hearing, Shankarnarayanan told the bench that the top court had on September 12 this year temporarily lifted its earlier order on the applications filed by some firecracker manufacturers.