Overview
- A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale on Wednesday rejected a nationwide prohibition and said crackers will not be allowed to be burst around the clock.
- The court conditionally permitted certain next‑generation joined green crackers called laris subject to technical limits on shell size and number, minimum time between bursts, licensed manufacture and exclusion of banned chemicals.
- Experts told the court these next‑gen crackers show lower noise and big reductions in particulate emissions in lab tests, and the Centre with CSIR‑NEERI, CPCB and PESO must finish open‑ground trials and dispersion modelling in Delhi, Bhopal, Kolkata and Chennai by October 15, 2026.
- Judges and counsel warned that past enforcement failures — sale of QR codes to unlicensed makers, lack of on‑site PESO testing and weak market verification — could let non‑compliant products reach consumers before festivals.
- The ruling follows the 2018 ban on barium salts, acknowledges laboratory gains of roughly 30–60% lower PM in some tests, and leaves the final policy to experts so authorities can balance festive livelihoods with measurable public‑health and air‑quality risks.