On Tuesday, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court sought explanation from the state government regarding the actions being taken to enforce the state’s ban on Chinese lanterns and kite strings.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking effective implementation of the ban.
In 2017, a bench of the Gujarat HC had issued several directions, ordering the state “to take all possible steps to prevent manufacture, storage and use of nylon threads (Chinese threads and Chinese manja) and any other synthetic threads coated with glass for the purpose of kite flying”.
In addition to issuing periodic notifications under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) section 144 under the relevant police jurisdictions, the state had issued circulars in 2016 enforcing a ban on Chinese threads.
However, the petitioner Pankaj Buch on Tuesday, through his advocate NM Kapadia, informed the court that “these directions (by the court in 2017) are on paper, they are not strictly implemented.”
Following Kapadia’s submissions, the bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice AJ Shastri orally inquired from the assistant government pleader as to how the state is implementing the ban imposed through the 2016 circular.
“I’ve never seen police at any of the traffic junctions — from court to home and home to court. Except for one or two important (traffic) junctions… In the past one year and two months, I’ve never seen a single motorbike of police patrolling… You come out with an action plan for the entire state so that something is done. Mere issuance of circulars doesn’t suffice, it should be implemented. We want to know how you implement it,” the bench remarked orally.
The next hearing is scheduled for January 6, 2023.