New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- The Supreme Court of India on September 12 said that firecracker ban cannot only be applied for certain cities and citizens, but must have pan-India application.

Hearing the matter, SC Chief Justice BR Gavai observed that if citizens in NCR are entitled to clean air, "why not people of other cities?"

"We can't have a policy just for Delhi because they're elite citizens of the country. I was in Amritsar last winter and the pollution was worse than Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout the country," he added.

(This is a developing story)

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT....