Delhi has been witnessing toxic air quality for a few weeks now
Tough restrictions on vehicular movement and construction activities in Delhi will stay for now, the Supreme Court ruled today. The national capital, battling bad air days for the past few weeks, is currently under the fourth stage of curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). GRAP 4 was imposed after the Air Quality Index crossed the 450 mark last week and entered the 'severe +' category.
The court, which earlier said GRAP 4 curbs won't be eased without its approval, said it would take a call on this question in the next hearing on Thursday. Delhi's Air Quality Index is now a tad better than last week and has dropped to the 'very poor' band.
The court, however, said the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) can take a call on whether to resume physical classes in schools in Delhi and other cities in the National Capital Region.
The bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice AG Masih cracked the whip on Delhi Police, warning the city police commissioner of prosecution for poor implementation of curbs to tackle the air pollution.
The bench today noted that without even seeing any report, it can say that no checkpoints to regulate vehicles are in action.
A counsel appearing for the 13 court-appointed commissioners who monitored implementation of the curbs told the bench that while checking happened, it is not clear how effective it was. The counsel said cops were "jumping in the middle of the road" to stop trucks and that there was no barricading at several checkpoints.
The Delhi government's counsel said employees of various levels were deployed at the checkpoints. When the court asked if Delhi government issued specific instructions to Delhi Police, the former said Delhi Police does not come under its authority.
The court then asked the Commission for Air Quality Management and the Centre if they issued specific instructions to police. It was told that orders were issued for 23 checkposts. The court asked why it was not done for the other posts. "You were bound to post officers. We are going to ask the Delhi police commissioner to be penalised under the CAQM Act," the court said.
The court noted that it is apparent that authorities have not made "earnest efforts" to implement the curbs and and asked CAQM to take action against the officials concerned. It said GRAP 4 curbs were not implemented properly and proper steps to stop trucks from entering Delhi were not taken.
On the question of resuming physical classes at schools, the bench noted that all children do not have access to Internet to take online classes. The court has asked the CAQM to take a call by tomorrow.
The court praised the 13 Bar members named court commissioners and said they will continue to monitor the situation and submit reports to the court.
"It is apparent that the authorities which are mentioned against item numbers 1, 2 and 3 of stage 4 of GRAP have made no earnest effort to implement the action in terms of clauses 1 - 3. Some police teams were deputed at a few entry points that also without any specific instruction. In fact the report of the court commissioner indicates that at most of the entry points the police were posted pursuant to the order of this court dated 23rd November. There is a serious lapse on the authorities mentioned against clauses 1 - 3. We therefore direct the Commission to immediately initiate action in terms of section 14 of the CAQM Act," it said in its order.
The court also said that the curbs cannot be downgraded below GRAP 2 till the court sees a "consistent downward trend of AQI". "We direct all the states to use funds collected as labour cess to provide subsistence to construction workers when such work is prohibited and all states shall comply with the same," it said, adding that CAQM must issued directions to relief labourers and daily wagers.