A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking an extension of the ban on firecrackers in the Delhi-National Capital Region beyond November 1, PTI reported.

On October 9, the court had reinstated the ban on the sale of firecrackers. Four days later, it had dismissed a plea filed by traders who had urged the court to modify the order as they had already bought stock for Diwali.

Petitioner Arjun Gopal, on whose plea the court had initially banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR, has now said said the order can be extended in view of the pollution levels in the region. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, said it will consider whether the petition can be heard urgently.

While passing its initial order, the court had said it was an experiment to see whether the ban would bring down pollution levels in the region. But studies carried out by research group Urban Emissions showed that the ban had not helped improve the air quality, The Hindu reported.

A day after Diwali, the Central Pollution Control Board said that the pollution levels in Delhi were lower during the festival this year than in 2016.