Taking a serious view of banned Chinese crackers finding their way to Sivakasi, the national hub of fireworks, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court today directed officials to find out the source of the contraband and posed a series of probing questions including why none was arrested in this connection.
During the hearing of a PIL seeking a direction for a CBI probe into the recent seizure of banned Chinese crackers from a godown at Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district, a division bench asked the district officials to find out from where the banned crackers had entered India.
“The Chinese crackers are said to be harmful... due to pollution and also because it prevented the local people from getting employment,” the bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice S Vaidhyanathan said.
The judges asked the officials including the police to file a report tomorrow on the action taken after the filing of the FIR, from where they had come, how they were being marketed and their harmful effects.
The judges wanted to know why FIR was not registered immediately after the seizure of the crackers and why the accused was not nabbed. They even wondered if the officials were hand in glove with the accused.
Rejecting the argument that Central Excise was responsible for the entry of the crackers, the court said, “Police should be able to find out the chain that helped Chinese crackers reach Sivakasi.”
The court had yesterday ordered issue of notice to revenue and police authorities on the PIL by A Muthukrishnan, member of the Dalit outfit ‘Aditamizhar Peravai’ who also sought a direction to authorities to inspect all godowns in the country and destroy illegal explosive items.
The availability of Chinese crackers in Tamil Nadu, which had been strictly restricted by the government, showed that dangerous explosive substances could be imported into the country, he said.