Chief Justice’s Bench NV Ramana and Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant, in the court-ordered emergency meeting of the Air Quality Management Commission in NCR and adjoining areas, involving senior officials of the Central and Delhi government, on Tuesday, ensured strict implementation of the string of decisions taken. ordered. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan Rajasthan,
Recalling his two-decade-long experience with the bureaucracy while serving as a Constitutional Court Judge and earlier as the Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh, CJI Ramana said, “In general, over a period of time, what I See, it is at the Centre. And in the states, the bureaucracy has developed an unspeakable inertia and apathy. They do not want to take any decision. (in the matter of pollution) they want the courts to pick up buckets of water and douse the farm fires. They want the courts to nab the polluting vehicles and industries. All this work has to be done by the courts. This is an attitude developed by the executive.”
When reference came to the allegation of “misleading” the court by the Center on the farm fire, the bench said it has stated all the facts in its affidavit and has not misrepresented the cases. The CJI said, “It is common knowledge that every two months of a year, due to farm fires, the level of pollution in Delhi and NCR increases. We understand the plight of farmers and do not want to punish them. Nevertheless, we have asked the respective state governments to persuade the farmers not to burn stubble for two weeks. There is no point in repeatedly raising the issue of fire in the fields.”
The court wondered why the executive was waiting for a court order to call an emergency meeting: “Why were these decisions not taken by the executive earlier? Why does the Supreme Court have to set an agenda, force central and state officials to meet, and take emergent steps to check pollution?
“On Tuesday, the meeting took place. Why can’t the officer summarize the minutes of the meeting and clearly inform the court – these are the things that have been decided, these have been implemented, these are the other measures that need to be taken and then specified Do what instructions have been issued to achieve the target on the ground,” the CJI said.
solicitor General Tushar Mehta He said that it is the solemn duty of the Center and the States and every officer to take all steps to implement the decisions taken in the meeting of the Commission. When this failed to quell the SC’s anger, Mehta attempted to lighten the mood by reciting a poignant yet humorous fictional description of how bureaucracy works.
But it was off-target. The CJI said, “It is unfortunate that the executive has come to this. The bureaucracy doesn’t want to do anything. They don’t want to pass any orders. All they want is – let the court draft the measures. Court passes orders.” Let it be done. Once the Supreme Court passes an order, they will simply put their signature on the executive order saying that it is as per the directions of the SC.” SG told another humorous story about bureaucracy and Caustic managed to stop the stream of comments, after which he informed the bench about the decisions taken in the meeting.
In Delhi, the bench questioned the AAP government on increasing the road-sweeping machines. Senior advocate AM Singhvi submitted that the municipal corporations have placed a requirement of 15 such machines and the Delhi government has agreed to release the funds to the municipal corporations and purchase them immediately. Singhvi said, “Delhi has stuck to 90% of the measures decided in Tuesday’s meeting and is ready to do whatever is necessary to bring down the pollution levels.” The bench asked whether 15 more machines were sufficient to clean 8,500 km of roads in Delhi, where at present there are 69 such machines. Singhvi said that the government is ready to buy more machines whenever there is a demand by the civic bodies.
However, he touched a raw nerve by blaming the farm fire as the petitioner’s counsel Vikas Singh Emphasizing that during the two winter months, farm fires contributed more than 40% to pollution in Delhi and accused the Center of misleading the court by saying that it was only 4-10%. The Solicitor General said that he has stated all the facts and mentioned the major agricultural fires during the two winter months, but scientific studies indicate that on an annual basis, the contribution is 4%. Piggybacking on SC’s “common sense” remark, SG interjects in a mild vein: “Common sense is like a deodorant. Those who don’t use it, annoy others.”
The bench told the Delhi government and the petitioner, “If you continue to set fire to the field, it will compel us to comment and create a controversy which will completely derail the main issue – from all the major sources”. How to stop pollution. What have you done to implement the order of Supreme Court banning firecrackers? Incidents of bursting of firecrackers are happening in every area of Delhi and NCR since last 10 days. Can you say that Doesn’t firecrackers cause pollution?
The SG said the central government employees have not been asked to ‘work from home’ as the number of vehicles used by them is very less. “Work has returned to normal in central government offices after a long gap due to the pandemic. Asking employees for WFH will have a pan-India effect. The Delhi government said that it has adopted WFH policy for its employees.
The bench suggested to the Center that since there are a large number of colonies where most of the officers and employees of the Central Government live, the Center may think of deploying buses to ply them to and from the office. The SG said that the Center will try to implement this suggestion of the court seriously.
The SG said that the Meteorological Department has predicted that after November 21, the wind speed will increase and the pollution will reduce significantly. “When the executive and bureaucracy do not work, we have to depend on the mercy of nature and God,” the bench said. It posted the matter for further hearing on November 24 to take stock of the steps taken by the Center and NCR states to reduce pollution levels.
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