Hue & cry over stubble burning without any basis: SC raps govt

Asks Centre to hold emergency meet; Delhi govt says ready for complete lockdown to control air pollution

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to hold an emergency meeting on the pollution crisis and by Tuesday decide on steps like stopping non-essential construction, transport, power plants and implementing work from home to tackle the situation, saying “the cat is out of the bag” now as the “hue and cry” over stubble burning being a big contributor was without any basis.

Ordering the Centre to hold the meeting with the secretaries concerned of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said, “In fact, now the cat is out of the bag, the farmers stubble burning contributes to 4 percent of the pollution... So, we are targeting something which is insignificant.” It pulled up the city government for making ‘lame excuses’ and passing the buck to civic bodies for not taking emergent measures in handling the crisis.

The Bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant, said that construction, industry, transport, power and vehicular traffic are the major culprits in causing pollution and asked the Centre to take steps regarding these factors. “Even though some decisions were taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act it has not indicated precisely what steps they are going to take to control factors that are causing air pollution," it said. “So far as the stubble burning is concerned, broadly affidavits state that their contribution is not so much except for two months. However, at present a good amount of stubble burning is taking place in Haryana and Punjab,” the bench said, adding that the farmers be urged not to burn stubble for two weeks. It directed the Centre and the NCR states to examine introducing work from home for employees.

At the outset, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that he wanted to make some suggestions and submitted that construction should be regulated rather than being banned. He said the Centre was not willing to take strong measures in view of the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab and sought for the constitution of an independent commission to oversee the process.

Mehta submitted that stubble burning now is not a major contributor to the pollution. “I must admit that stubble burning now is not a major contributor to the pollution, as of now it's 10 per cent is what I have been told. Road dust majorly contributes to pollution.

Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra said the municipal corporations are the ones which see all this as they are “independent and autonomous bodies”. Irked, the bench shot back: “You are passing the buck to MCD again. This kind of lame excuse will compel us to find out and hold an audit inquiry into the total revenue you are collecting and spending on popularity slogans instead of looking after people.”

The AAP government, meanwhile, has told the SC  that it was ready to take steps like complete lockdown to control air pollution. Delhi has told the SC that such a step, however, would be meaningful if it is implemented across the NCR areas.