Order of the Supreme Court of India regarding severe air pollution in Delhi NCR, 18/11/2024
Order of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of M C Mehta Vs Union of India & Others dated 18/11/2024.
The petition was listed to find out how the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for NCR and adjoining areas published by the Commission for Air Quality Management in September 2024 is being implemented. Stage III (Severe’ Air Quality) of the GRAP comes into picture when Delhi AQI ranges between 401-450. From the minutes of the meeting dated November 13, 2024 of the Sub-Committee of the Commission for dealing with the GRAP, it can be seen that, on November 13, 2024, the AQI had crossed 401, the SC said.
Amicus Curiae informed the court that the AQI crossed 400 on November 12, 2024. Instead of immediately directing the implementation of Stage III of the GRAP, the Commission directed that Stage III should be implemented from November 14, 2024. The same was the case with the implementation of Stage IV (Severe Air Quality).
"The approach adopted by the Commission seems to be that it waited for improvement of the AQI and, therefore, the implementation of Stages III and IV of the GRAP was delayed," the apex court observed.
"In anticipation of the AQI crossing the threshold limit, it is the duty of the Commission to start immediate implementation of Stages III and IV of the GRAP, as the case may be. The Commission cannot wait for the improvement of the AQI," the bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said.
The Supreme Court, November 18, 2024 directed all the state governments of the NCR area to strictly implement Stage IV of the GRAP forthwith. All the NCR state governments would immediately constitute teams to monitor the implementation of the actions required under Stage IV of the GRAP. The NCR state governments and the Central Government would have to immediately take a call on the actions provided in clauses 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Stage IV and place the decision taken on record before the next date, November 22, 2024, the SC said.
Directions were given to the Government of NCT of Delhi and other NCR state governments to create a grievance redressal mechanism to enable the citizens to lodge complaints about the violation of restrictions under Stage IV of the GRAP. The SC made it clear that till the court passes further orders "the implementation of Stage IV of the GRAP will continue even if AQI drops below 450". All the NCR state governments and the Central Government will file compliance affidavits by November 21, 2024.
Amicus Curiae informed the court that there is a difference between the data collected through the stationery satellites and the data from the polar orbiting satellites, such as NASA satellites, which are being relied upon by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
ISRO gets data from the NASA satellites, which pass over the NCR area at around 10:30 am and 1:30 pm daily. Therefore, the instances of farm fires captured by the satellites are only during this limited period. Based on the information given by Hiren Jethva, a senior research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Amicus Curiae pointed out that a South Korean satellite, GEO-KOMSAT 2A, which is a stationary satellite, has captured farm fires at 4:20 pm.
The SC directed direct the Central Government as well as the Commission to make immediate arrangements for getting the data, either from the South Korean stationery satellite or any other stationery satellites, so that the data of farm fires throughout the day can be made available to the states to enable them to take immediate action.