Every year around Kali Puja and Diwali, the state government announces the conditions on which firecrackers may be burst, and every year the questions are the same: when, which kind, and where. This year the State Home Secretary announced that firecrackers are permitted for Kali Puja and Diwali only between 8 pm and 10 pm, and for Chhath Puja between 6 am and 8 am, and that only certified green crackers may be used. Sky lanterns need prior official permission. The announcement is reported in the press, and the notification for any particular year should be read for its exact terms.
These conditions rest on a body of existing law. The Supreme Court, in the long-running litigation on firecrackers, has restricted the manufacture and sale of conventional crackers in favour of green crackers and has treated the hours of use as a matter of public health, and the Calcutta High Court has dealt with the subject repeatedly. In 2021 the High Court ordered a complete ban for the festive season, and the Supreme Court set that order aside because the State had not been heard. The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 set noise limits and treat hospitals, educational institutions and courts as silence zones, and the state conditions bar firecrackers within 100 metres of hospitals, nursing homes and old-age homes. The manufacture, storage, transport and sale of fireworks are also controlled by the Explosives Act, 1884 and the rules made under it, and licences are needed.
Breaking the conditions has consequences. Negligent conduct with explosive substances that endangers life or is likely to cause hurt is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and disobedience of a public servant’s order has its own provision. Authorities may seize firecrackers sold or used without authorisation. These are matters for the police and the Pollution Control Board, and a complaint to either is the usual first step.
There is also a civil side. Persistent noise and smoke from a neighbour’s display, outside the permitted hours or inside a silence zone, can amount to a nuisance for which an injunction may be sought, and damage to property or injury from fireworks can found a claim for compensation. In an apartment building or a society, the bye-laws and the managing committee may impose stricter conditions than the law does. A record helps in all of these: the date and time, photographs or video, and any complaint made. See Practice areas.
This note describes the general position only. The conditions are announced each year and may change, and what remedy is available depends on the facts. Nothing here is legal advice.