Air Pollution: SC raps Centre, Delhi, asks to come up with 'serious solutions'

Delhi AQI air pollution - IQ Air Visual, a web platform that tracks air quality and air pollution, has put out a list of the world’s most polluted cities. The list is in terms of the live US Air Quality Index (AQI) being collected from across the world. Here are the top-10 cities in the world, with the highest air pollution as of 8.24 am (IST) on November 4.

With toxic air still looming thick on the national capital region, the Supreme Court on December 2, pulled up the Centre and the Delhi government for not doing enough to control pollution.

Asking both the governments to come up with serious solutions for curbing the situation, a special bench of the apex court, tasked with hearing the case of air pollution, said it will assemble 30 minutes early on Friday.

The court said that if the governments fail to take extraordinary steps to contain the air pollution in Delhi NCR, then the court will be constrained to pass directions. Conceding to Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta’s request, the court granted the governments time till December 3 to carry out deliberations with higher authorities and come up with suggestions for such extraordinary steps.

At the beginning of the hearing, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had also rapped the Delhi government for opening schools despite high levels of air pollution. “You have kept work-from-home for elders, then why are schools opened for students?” CJI Ramana had asked.

Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court about the steps the Delhi government is taking. His submissions were supplemented by Solicitor General Mehta, who apprised the court of steps taken by the Centre.

“It appears that nothing is happening on ground but everything is being done… It feels like we are wasting our time,” CJI Ramana said. The situation was being monitored constantly, the bench was told.

“If so many steps are taken then why is the pollution rising further? Where is it coming from?” the court sought to know. It asked if the commission constituted under the law to address air pollution concerns in Delhi NCR has identified the primary source of pollution.

The bench adjourned the hearing for December 3 at 10 AM for the government lawyers to bring forth details of the commission members, actions taken by the commission, detailed break-up of main source of air pollution, as well as serious suggestions on steps that can be taken to arrest the problem.

“You cannot fire bullets from our shoulders… You will have to take steps,” CJI Ramana told government lawyers while closing the hearing, asking them to bring their suggestions to the table at Friday’s hearing.