Efforts To Curb Air Pollution in NCR So Far a Total Failure, Says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday orally observed that the measures taken by authorities so far have been a "total failure" in effectively curbing rising levels of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked that any meaningful reduction in pollution would require broader, long-term planning rather than ad hoc responses.

With respect to various petitions highlighting the inadequacy of recent measures aimed at protecting children, such as the Delhi government's directives to shut schools or allow them to function in a hybrid mode, the Court noted that these were merely temporary policy decisions taken by the authorities to mitigate health risks.

Thus, the bench refused to interfere with respect to the decision of the Delhi government to direct the shutting of schools or the hybrid model of schools.

"The short-term measures are only to provide temporary protection to children and elderly persons. These are purely interim policy decisions. At best, they can be viewed as an extension of vacations, as schools are anyway scheduled to remain closed for 10 to 15 days during the winter," the Court observed.

As regards another issue raised by the counsel representing Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) regarding the congestion of traffic at nine toll-plazas in the bordering areas of Delhi NCR that add to the vehicular pollution, the Supreme Court asked the MCD to consider shutting down those toll-plazas for a three-to four-month period (from October-January) when the air-pollution levels are at their highest.

The counsel representing MCD submitted that the issue with shutting the toll plazas would be that MCD would not be able to receive its toll collection from passenger vehicles entering and exiting Delhi for the said period.

In response, the top court asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to consider shifting or adding toll plazas established and operated by the NHAI to such areas in the outskirts of NCR where it could take up the activity of collecting tolls on behalf of the MCD.

"These kinds of competing claims, like you need money. We have to think of what's better for society," the top court remarked.

The top court has directed the MCD to file its response in compliance with the aforesaid order of the Court within one week.

Additionally, considering increasing levels, the Supreme Court allowed the Delhi government to take action against owners who are using vehicles below the BS IV (Bharat Stage 4) emission standard in the NCR region.

Modifying its earlier order passed in August, this year, in which the Supreme Court had permitted authorities to only take action on vehicles that are below the BS III (Bharat Stage 3) standard of emissions levels, the Court today directed that no coercive action be taken against vehicles-owners using vehicles that meet the BS IV standards or are even newer than the once categorised in BS IV.

The aforesaid directions have come from the Supreme Court following its earlier take on the issue regarding increasing levels of air pollution in Delhi NCR, where the Court said it will monitor the issue by holding a hearing on it atleast twice every month.