New Delhi: A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Monday was stunned after it was informed by a senior counsel that construction was underway on the court premises despite a ban on construction activities, against the backdrop of severe air pollution in the national capital.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has announced stricter pollution control measures for the Delhi-NCR under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), effective from 8 am on Monday, including a ban on truck entry and a temporary halt on construction at public projects. All construction activities, including highways, roads, flyovers, power lines, pipelines and other public projects, have been suspended.
A bench comprising justices AS Oka and Justice AG Masih was posing queries to the Delhi government and the Commission for Air Quality Management in relation to the delay in implementing curbs under the GRAP, anti-air pollution restrictions.
The bench asked a counsel, “Please tell us who is monitoring the ban on construction and demolition, and is somebody going to the sites to verify….”
At this juncture, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing a party in the matter, said the construction is going on outside Court number 11, and it is going on right now since morning. “Stones are being broken. The dust is up in the air, and this has been going on in the Supreme Court”, he said. Another counsel said the problem is with the debris, which is not being covered properly. “Is it correct that construction is going on here (in the Supreme Court)?”, asked Justice Oka.
Sankaranarayanan said he saw it himself and added, “where they have broken that bridge which goes to that new block and the construction is going on there…outside court 11, the new block which was inaugurated. People are working there….”
Justice Oka said, “Just flash a message requesting the secretary general come to the court…instead flashing it, send him a message to him to come directly”.
Later, during the hearing, the bench was informed that the construction on the premises of the court had stopped.
Delhi NCR today continued to grapple with severe air pollution and the air quality index (AQI) in the city remained dangerously high.
