Comments
The Supreme Court on Monday said the “cat is out of the bag” to prove that urban factors like construction activity, industrial emission, vehicular exhaust and road dust are actually the major causes of pollution in the Capital and not stubble burning.
Stubble burning effect 10%
A Special Bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana gleaned the fact from the affidavits filed by the Centre and the Delhi government. The Centre submitted that farm fires in neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh contribute only 10 per cent to the pollution.
At the previous hearing, the court had questioned the narrow focus of the Centre and the Delhi government on farmers. “You (the Centre) say 76 per cent of the pollution is caused by industry, dust, vehicles and construction and not due to stubble burning... So the cat is out of the bag... You (Delhi) are saying farm fires contribute only 4%... So you are now trying to target pollution that is insignificant?”
Justice DY Chandrachud, on the Bench, asked both Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Centre and Delhi, respectively: “Are you agreeing in principle that farm fire is not the major cause? So all that hue and cry had no scientific or actual basis.”
Chief Justice Ramana said the court had been insisting that stubble burning was not the major cause. “Pollution is caused by city-related issues... You first take care of them and then we will come to stubble burning,” he told the Centre.
The court was shocked to realise that Delhi had only 69 mechanised road sweepers to all the streets of the Capital.
Mehra was quick to assure the court of a “commitment at the top”. He said the municipal corporations in Delhi were autonomous bodies and suggested that the court ask the Mayors to file “specific” affidavits.
“This is like the story told by grandma... Everyone passing the buck,” Ramana scoffed.
Judge warns of audit
Justice Surya Kant lashed out at the Delhi government for coming up with “lame excuses”. If this went on, the court would be constrained to order an audit enquiry into the money the Delhi government spent on “popularity slogans” seen across the Capital, he said.
“How will you augment the number of machines in the next 24 hours,” Justice Chandrachud asked. “Municipal corporations say they don’t even have the money to pay their staff,” Justice Kant said.
Mehra, after conferring with the officials, said: “MCD can say how many they require, the government will release the funds. We are committed... We will do at a war-footing”.
“Tall words...” the CJI reacted at one point.
The court directed the Centre to call an urgent meeting in 24 hours with Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to craft urgent and effective anti-pollution measures and their implementation.
The court asked Centre, Punjab, Haryana, UP to introduce work from home for now.
The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.