A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay And Justice Amit Borkar was hearing a petition filed by the Pune Natural Flower Growers’ Association, which sought to ban the use of plastic flowers in Maharashtra.

Earlier, the Court had directed Maharashtra and the Central governments to file their responses to the petition.

Today, the Court noted that the CPCB had written a letter to the Government of India stating that an expert committee constituted by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals had included plastic flowers in the list of plastic items for use single prohibited. The CPCB had therefore requested the Indian government to include plastic flowers in the list.

However, the Union Counsel of India told the Court that the expert committee had not recommended including plastic flowers in the list of single-use plastic items.

The Court therefore asked the counsel for the Union of India to seek directions on the contents of the letter written by the CPCB. He also ordered the UOI to file an affidavit stating whether the recommendations mentioned in the letter to ban plastic flowers were considered and whether any decision was taken.

Case Title: Growers Flowers Council of India (GFCI) and Anr. against the Union of India and Ors. (WRITTEN PETITION NO. 9265 OF 2024)