Bombay High Court tells Maharashtra not to spend public money on celebrities for the anti-firecracker campaign; instead, the Mumbai Police Commissioner is to invite them to take part voluntarily.
Mumbai: Hearing its suo motu case on noise and environmental pollution, the Bombay High Court has said that the State Government and local bodies should not pay celebrities out of the public exchequer for the campaign against bursting of firecrackers. It has asked the Police Commissioner to take effective steps to involve them voluntarily [In Re: Noise and Environmental Pollution v. State of Maharashtra].
The order of October 26, 2026 in Suo Motu PIL No. 1 of 2026 was passed by a Division Bench of Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale. The matter comes up next on November 19, 2026 at 3 pm.
No fees from the public purse
The State has proposed an awareness campaign. In the hearing, the Court was told that celebrities charge fixed fees even for social campaigns, which Justice Kulkarni called a wrong approach, suggesting that the government approach Marathi actors to take part free of charge. The order records:
“we would not expect the State Government or local bodies to incur expenditure from the public exchequer on this count”
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What the authorities have already done
Affidavits from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the BMC (Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide) and the Mumbai Police Commissioner (Deven Bharti) were accepted by the Court. They list newspaper advertisements, television, cinema and FM campaigns, billboards and school sensitisation. The Bench appreciated their “proactive steps” taken within a short time, and recorded that air quality is likely to worsen if the toxicity of firecrackers is not controlled.
The Bench added that the effort should not end once the festival is over and that the campaign must be continuous. Justice Gokhale suggested that school programmes be held regularly and not as a one-day event.
The case behind the order
The suo motu petition is being heard along with interim applications in PIL No. 85 of 2007, the long-running case filed by the Awaaz Foundation on noise and firecrackers. Earlier this month the Court extended the ban on bursting firecrackers on public roads, streets and footpaths to all festivals through the year, and it has since pressed the civic and police machinery to enforce it.
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Helplines and the slums
Staff who receive complaints must be trained and sensitised to deal with festival-time complaints, and the municipal and police machinery must work in coordination. Firecracker and noise violations can be reported on the police helplines 100 and 112, while the BMC’s helpline 1916 passes noise complaints on to the police control room or the local station. The Court noted that an older noise helpline, 1292, is reportedly no longer functional.
Because bursting continues late at night in slums, the Court said they need special attention. It directed the BMC, the Pollution Control Board and the Police to meet the Chief Executive Officer of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, together with ward councillors, to implement the directions, and said it expects compliance “in letter and in spirit”.
What the order signals
The order steers the campaign away from advertisements alone towards sustained enforcement and community outreach, and it sets a limit on how public money may be spent on awareness drives. It also follows up the year-round ban on street firecrackers with practical steps such as working helplines and trained complaint staff.
Case Title: In Re: Noise and Environmental Pollution v. State of Maharashtra [Suo Motu PIL No. 1 of 2026, with IA(L) No. 35677 of 2026 and IAs in PIL No. 85 of 2007]
Bench: Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale, Bombay High Court
Date of Order: October 26, 2026
Appearances: Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy with Advocate Anand Pai (Amicus); Additional Government Pleader Jyoti Chavan for the State and the Pollution Control Board; Advocate Joel Carlos for the BMC; Law Officer Atif Noor Hasan Shaikh for the Mumbai Police Commissionerate; and other counsel for applicants and intervenors