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The four-decade-old MC Mehta case finally came to an end on March 12 when the Supreme Court disposed of the 1985 Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning air pollution in Delhi and its surrounding areas. The PIL, filed by environmentalist M C Mehta in 1985, led to several landmark judgments and orders aimed at preventing, controlling, and managing pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and related issues. 79-year-old Mahesh Chander Mehta is a lawyer who has been a prominent advocate for environmental conservation in various areas, including air pollution, Ganga pollution, and the protection of the Taj Mahal. Born on October 12, 1946, in a small village in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehta completed his primary education in Dhangri village and pursued higher education at a school in Rajouri. He later moved to Jammu, where he earned a Postgraduate degree in Political Science and a Law degree from Jammu University. He began his legal practice at the Jammu and Kashmir High ...
Delhi was the most polluted city during 2024-25, recording the highest annual PM2.5 levels and extended periods of "severe" air quality in winter while Patna was the second-most polluted city, according to a new analysis by Climate Trends. Climate Trends is a research-based consulting and capacity-building initiative that aims to bring greater focus on issues of environment, climate change and sustainable development. Based on Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) air quality monitoring data, this report analysed how meteorological conditions influence the persistence of PM2.5 pollution across six major Indian cities such as Delhi, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. Using CPCB air quality data (2024-2025) combined with meteorological clustering, the study distinguished emission-driven pollution from weather-driven variability. "Delhi continues to face the most severe pollution crisis nationally with the highest annual average PM2.5 levels and the longest stretches of ..