Supreme Court slams non-compliance of states for alarming Delhi-NCR pollution

The Supreme Court, while hearing into the Delhi-NCR pollution issue today, observed the major issue is the non-compliance of state governments. The SC has issued orders for the states to comply with directions issued to them to get the pollution problem solved. The state governments are expected to file a reply by Wednesday evening

New Delhi: As the proceedings on the petition concerning pollution rise in Delhi were resumed today, a bench of CJI N.V. Ramana and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant heard the plea. During the hearing, senior Advocate Vikas Singh pointed out that the Central Vista project is going in full swing right under the nose of the Supreme Court despite a ban on the construction. The SC responded that it is well aware of the situation, and flagging just this issue would be a diversion from the main concern.

Justice Ramana called up Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who informed that an affidavit regarding the issue has been placed today. He told the court that the authorities had started much in advance but compliance is needed in the directions that are issued by the commission.

The SC further pointed out that the Air Quality Index has stooped up to 419 today, to which the SG expressed his own concerns and said that the levels are rising every day, though he is not sure about the predictions made by the meteorological department.

On being asked about the problem of the newly emerging Covid-19 strain Omicron, the SG said that the virus is an entirely different problem and needs to be dealt with separately.

The judges pointed out non-compliance by the states and lack of proper instructions to be a major execution level loophole. The bench further suggested the formation of a separate task force for each state in order to ensure compliance, with the involvement of state governments. The compliance level will be revisited in the next hearing.

Dr. A.M. Sanghvi, representing the Delhi government, said that they have shown 90% compliance, having disbursed 147 crores for around 3 lakh construction workers. Besides, 5,000 CNG buses have been provided to the workers to travel to central Delhi. The UP government also claimed to have complied.

Other issues like lack of steps form UP, Haryana and Punjab on construction workers' fund and the stubble burning was raised, in response to which, the SG confirmed the stubble burning not being an issue anymore with inputs from the environmental minister.

The session concluded with the SC saying that it wants to to give an opportunity to state governments and counsels to comply with the direction, and further directed them to comply and file a reply before Wednesday evening.

In its last hearing over the matter, the SC had recommended adapting to scientifically advanced and statistics based solutions to the problem.