A Supreme Court bench of AS Oka and AG Masih heard a case concerning air pollution in Delhi and scathingly criticised the Delhi government for failing to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stages 3 and 4 despite deteriorating air quality.
The comments were made by the Supreme court at a time when the air pollution levels were still increasing in the city, causing concern over the lack of timely action.
In the hearing process, when a government representative claimed that the pollution could fall in the next few days, according to the IMD data, Justice Oka said, “Can you take chances like this? On a lighter note, can anybody else count on the IMD department? This comment was made probably due to the court’s concern over the government’s nonaction to address the stagnation of air quality, though red signals had been shown for a long time.”
Justice Oka went further to remark that the government should stop delaying, adding that the court will not allow such a practice. “The government needs to tell us what has been done. You will not have anything below stage 3 without our approval. But he said that even if the AQI decreases to 450 or below, there will be stage 4, stressing that the court will continuously implement the GRAP.”
The bench expressed concerns over why the government had not declared stages 3 and 4 of GRAP which, restricts activities such as construction, controls emissions of vehicles, and banned the entry of trucks into Delhi for severe pollution.
In the government’s defense, their counsel said they expected a decrease in pollution soon but that the court was unsatisfied, assuring that there is urgent and efficient action needed. It is noteworthy that the court doesn’t shy away from doing everything possible to curb the air pollution that is on the rise in Delhi.
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