SC bats for permanent solution to air pollution in Delhi-NCR

PTI, Dec 2, 2024, 8:05 PM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stressed on finding a permanent solution to the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-National Capital Region, saying a similar situation arose every year between October and December.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said it had perused the orders passed by the apex court from time to time in the pollution matter and it emerged a similar situation arose every year between October and December.

“We propose to go into all aspects of causes of pollution and try to find out a permanent solution,” it said.

The bench said permanent solutions had to be found with respect to stubble burning and various other causes of pollution.

The top court asked the amicus curiae in the matter to prepare a note on these issues within two weeks for it to consider.

During the hearing, the bench said it would hear the parties on December 5 on whether to relax the stringent restrictions under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 4.

When one of the advocates requested for his plea to be also listed on the same day, the bench retorted, “Don’t add to the burden. Ultimately, someday we will have to leave it to the commission (Commission for Air Quality Management).” The counsel said his application contained data which would be helpful.

“Please remember one thing, we are not going to do a public hearing here. Please remember the plight of the workers. We have to be conscious of the fact that people have stopped their earnings,” the bench noted further.

When the lawyer said the application was about GRAP measures, the bench said it proposed to go into the larger issue of pollution and finding a permanent solution.

“We are hearing every lawyer very patiently,” it observed.

The bench also dealt with the reports filed by lawyers, who were appointed as court commissioners to conduct inspection at entry points of Delhi.

One of them revealed that three court-appointed commissioners were intimidated during the discharge of their duties assigned by the court.

It also dealt with the issue of payment of subsistence allowance to construction workers who were without work owing to the restrictions.

“As we are continuing the stage 4 norms, pending further orders, we direct all the NCR states to use the funds which have been collected as labour cess for the welfare of the construction workers by providing them weekly subsistence allowance for the period during which the construction activities are prohibited,” the top court said on November 25.

During Monday’s hearing, the bench was informed that construction workers were not being paid the amount following which it directed the chief secretaries of NCR states to virtually appear before it on December 5 and inform if any subsistence allowance was paid.

“They (chief secretaries) will appear through video-conferencing so that these states will understand the seriousness,” the bench said.

It said the NCR states were free to file affidavits detailing actual payments made to the construction workers.