SC orders Delhi, Punjab and adjoining states to stop crop burning immediately

Supreme Court asks Delhi, Punjab and adjoining states to stop crop burning immediately

The Supreme Court on November 7 directed the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to stop crop burning immediately to check the threatening level of air pollution in the Capital.

The court has asked the chief secretaries of these states to meet on November 8 and submit a report on their decision by November 10. The responsibility of preventing crop burning will be on the local station house officer, chief secretaries, and the directors general of police of these states.

During the course of the hearing, the SC pulled up the Punjab government for its inaction in stopping stubble burning and asked the state to not politicise the issue or pass the buck to other states. Noting that the 'Odd-even' scheme was done merely for optics, the court asked Delhi government to consider allowing only Delhi registered car inside Delhi.

"The residents of Delhi have been struggling with health issues because we don’t seem to find a solution for pollution at this time of the year. This has been the ongoing process for five years. It is time that something is done as of yesterday (immediately), the matter requires immediate attention and court monitoring," the order said.

At the start of the hearing, amicus curiae (friend of the court) in this case told the apex court that the executive does not act on its own to curb air pollution and court's intervention has helped in the past. She further submitted that crop burning and vehicular pollution are the leading factors contributing to air pollution in the Capital. Appearing for the Punjab government, advocate-general Gurminder Singh told the court that crop burning has reduced by 40 percent in comparison with last year, but the court shot this claim down.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who was leading the bench, noted that he had travelled to Punjab over the last weekend and witnessed crop burning in person.

On October 10, when senior advocate Aparajitha Singh highlighted the issues and asked the court to consider it again, the court asked the CAQM to file a report. “The CAQM’s report is comprehensive but the problem of the air quality still persists. One of the main issues flagged is of crop burning. We call upon the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi to file the affidavits within a week. The affidavits be filed under the signatures of chief secretaries of the respective states,” the court had noted on October 31.

The orders were passed in the 1985 MC Mehta case. The top court had passed many orders barring the government and other stakeholders from certain activities, in the interests of preserving the environment. The apex court had been monitoring for close to four decades to ensure that its directions were complied with.

The government and other stakeholders kept filing applications in these cases asking for the court’s permission to carry out certain restricted activities. Owing to the court monitoring it for 38 years now, the case covers a wide range of environment-related issues.