The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Central government to relax its notification banning the use of pet-coke and furnace oil in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan as it permitted pet coke to be used an an ingredient by the cement and lime industry. In pursuance to the top court's October 24 order banning the use of pet-coke and furnace oil in NCR region of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, the Ministry of Environment and Forest had on November 15 asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to ban the use of pet-coke and furnace oil in the area. The CPCB on November 15 itself issued the notification banning the use of both.

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