Karnataka HC dismisses firecracker traders' plea challenging ban on business

The High Court has dismissed the petition filed by dealers in the business of crackers and fireworks challenging the ban imposed by the police on the sale of crackers in certain congested areas of Bengaluru. The petitioners claimed they were discriminated against and the order affected their fundamental right to do business.

Justice Krishna S Dixit said that the explosive substances being ‘res extra commercium’ like the liquor, poison, etc., no citizen can claim an unrestricted fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution to carry on trade and business.

The petitioners had their shops on Avenue road, in Sultanpet, Mamulpet and such areas in Bengaluru. They had challenged the September 27, 2013 order passed by Director General and Inspector General of Police, upholding the April 12, 2012 order passed by the Commissioner of police, Bengaluru city, withdrawing the No Objection Certificate (NOC).

The court said that the doctrine of equality enshrined in Article 14 cannot be pressed into service, unmindful of enormous hazards that would possibly put the public at large to. “The interest of the public would be more served by petitioners and other traders shifting their said business to safer areas than being permitted to continue in the same areas in question,” the court said.

The court added that other traders will also have to be moved when the petitioners argued discrimination as a ground claiming that similarly placed businesses were allowed to continue. “If the petitioners have to shift their ‘apple carts’ to safer areas, quitting the lanes in question, other similarly circumstanced businessmen cannot be permitted to cling on to the same area. What applies to goose applies to gander, as rightly contended by the counsel for the state,” the court said.

While dealing with the subject matter in the petition, Justice Krishna Dixit also said that it is high time the civil society responds to the concerns expressed by the Apex Court on the ill effects of firecrackers. “Indisputably, the ill effects of firecrackers cause irreversible damage to the environment. Apart from infants, expectant mothers and patients (more particularly those having heart ailment and high blood pressure) even animals and birds too feel the violence due to bursting of crackers,” Justice Dixit said adding a line from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad– ‘sarve bhavantu sukhinaha, sarve santu niraamayaha (let all people be happy and all creatures be free from affliction).