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Informist, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

NEW DELHI – Observing that it was the constitutional obligation of state governments to ensure that citizens live in a pollution-free environment, the Supreme Court on Monday directed governments of Delhi-National Capital Region to strictly implement restrictions under Stage-IV of the Graded Response Action Plan. The court, while hearing a case on rising air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and the issue of stubble burning in neighbouring states, directed states to immediately form teams to monitor implementation of Stage-IV of the emergency action plan. The top court further said that Stage-IV restriction will remain in place till further orders, even if the Air Quality Index in Delhi-NCR falls below 450. 

 

As of 1600 IST, the 24-hour average Air Quality Index for Delhi was at 494, in the "severe" category.

 

The Graded Response Action Plan is a set of guidelines to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR based on the Air Quality Index. Restrictions under Stage-I are activated when the Air Quality Index is between 201 and 300, whereas those under Stage-II are enforced when the index ranges between 301 and 400. Stage-III is invoked when the index lies between 401 and 450, and Stage-IV is implemented when the index reading is more than 450. 

 

The court asked the state governments in Delhi and adjoining areas and the Centre to immediately take a call on actions provided in Clauses 6, 7 and 8 of Stage-IV of the graded response action plan and place their decision before the bench at the next hearing. These clauses are related to allowing public, municipal and private offices to work at 50% strength and the rest to work from home, permitting work from home for employees in central government offices, and enforcing additional emergency measures like closure of colleges or educational institutions.

 

The court asked the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas to look into the complaints of violation of Stage-IV norms and take action. The top court directed the commission to consider more stringent actions under Stages-III and -IV and not leave anything to the discretion of the government or local authorities.

 

The court also pulled up the sub-committee of the commission for not invoking Stage-III and Stage-IV curbs earlier and waiting for the air quality to improve instead. "This is a completely wrong approach. Even in anticipation of AQI (air quality index) decreasing the threshold limit, it is the duty of the commission to start implementation of GRAP (graded action response plan)-III or GRAP-IV as the case may be. The commission cannot wait for improvement of AQI," it said.

 

Further, the Supreme Court highlighted another issue regarding the agency's air quality data which may require consideration. The issue is which agency's data should be treated as official data for air quality index level, said the court, adding that the parties will be heard on this aspect.

 

The court said that in addition to the response action under Stage-III and Stage-IV, governments need to take all possible measures to ensure that Air Quality Index is brought down. All states must decide on stopping physical classes for all students up to Class 12, said the court. The observation came as Delhi government has suspended physical classes for all students except for Classes 10 and 12 under Stage 4.

 

After air quality worsened further to "severe plus" on Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management had imposed Stage IV, the highest set of anti-pollution restrictions in Delhi-NCR, starting 0800 IST on Monday. Further, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in its daily bulletin forecasted air quality to be in "severe" or "severe plus" category for the next six days from Sunday. 

 

The Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih asked all the governments to file their compliance reports on the directions issued by the court and listed the case for further hearing on Friday.

 

The court also noted a submission from amicus curiae that the Indian Space Research Organisation was getting data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite, which passes over NCR at around 1030 IST and 1330 IST daily. Therefore, instances of farm fires captured by the satellite are only for those periods, it said. 

 

Based on information provided by a senior scientist at NASA, the amicus pointed out that a Korean satellite, which is a stationary satellite, had captured the number of farm fires at 420, the court noted. It said there was a difference between data collected by the stationery satellite and the NASA satellite. "We direct the Government of India as well as Commission to make immediate arrangements for getting data either from Korean stationery satellites or any other stationery satellites so that data of farm fires throughout the day can be made available to the states to enable them to take immediate actions," said the court. The Commission and the central government will also involve ISRO in taking this step, it added. "The ultimate object should be to ensure that all instances of farm burning throughout the day can be reported to the concerned states so that prompt action can be taken by the states," said the court.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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