The Calcutta High Court has ordered a ban on sale and use of firecrackers during the festival of Diwali, Chhath Puja and other festivities to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

A division bench comprising justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Aniruddha Roy directed the police to initiate legal action against anyone found violating the ban after having confiscated the crackers, reported PTI.

This order thus nullifies a recent notification by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board that allowed the use of "green" fire crackers for a limited period of time on Diwali and Kali puja.

The bench passed the order on a petition seeking re-imposition of the ban on firecrackers, as was ordered by the court in 2020.

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