India, Oct. 6 -- The Himachal Pradesh high court on Monday ordered the state government to stop operating two anti-hail guns at Deorighat and Bareonghat, apple-growing villages in the Jubbal-Kotkhai area of Shimla district, for at least a year.

The order came from a bench of chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Bipin C Negi. The state had told the court that Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry at Nauni, Solan, was studying whether the guns work and would need at least four more years to reach a definitive conclusion. The court made the university a party to the case, which it will hear next on December 8.

The guns fire shock waves at approaching storm clouds, and their makers say this stops hail from forming. Orchar...