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[Cites 1, Cited by 0]

Supreme Court - Daily Orders

M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 28 November, 2024

Author: Abhay S. Oka

Bench: Abhay S. Oka

     ITEM NO.45                          COURT NO.5                 SECTION PIL-W

                               S U P R E M E C O U R T O F      I N D I A
                                       RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

     Writ Petition(s)(Civil)             No(s).    13029/1985

     M.C. MEHTA                                                      Petitioner(s)

                                                  VERSUS

     UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                           Respondent(s)

     ([ TO BE TAKEN UP AT 3.30 P.M. ] ------ IN RE: COMMISSION FOR AIR
     QUALITY MANAGEMENT (CAQM) (AIR POLLUTION) AND IMPLEMENTATION OF
     GRAP IV 1) I.A. NO. 269389/2024 (APPLICATION FOR INTERVENTION) 2)
     I.A. Nos. 270761 AND 270763/2024 (APPLICATIONS FOR DIRECTION AND
     INTERVENTION) NAME OF THE FOLLOWING ADVOCATES MAY BE TREATED TO
     HAVE BEEN SHOWN IN THE LIST: MR. HARISH N. SALVE, SR. ADVOCATE
     (A.C.) MS. APARAJITA SINGH, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. A.D.N. RAO, SR.
     ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. SIDDHARTHA CHOWDHURY, ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. G.S.
     MAKKER, MR. AMRISH KUMAR, MR. M.K. MARORIA MR. SANJAY KR. VISEN,
     MR. SUDEEP KUMAR, MR. KARAN SHARMA, MR. SANDEEP KR. JHA MR. JYOTI
     MENDIRATTA, MR. RAHUL KHURANA, MR. YASH S VIJAY, MR. SAURABH
     AGRAWAL ADVOCATES)

     Date : 28-11-2024 This petition was called on for hearing today.

     CORAM :
                         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ABHAY S. OKA
                         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH

                                   Ms. Aparajita Singh,Sr.Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
                                   Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
                                   Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury,Adv.(Amicus Curiae)
                                   Ms. Shibani Ghosh,Adv.
                                   Mr. Ishank Ranjan,Adv.

     For the parties:
                                   Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
                                   Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
                                   Mrs. Archna Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
                                   Mr. Wasim Quadri, Sr. Adv.
                                   Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv.
                                   Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
                                   Ms. Suhashinin Sen, Adv.
                                   Ms. Chitvan Singhal, Adv.
                                   Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
                                   Ms. Neelakshi Bhadouria, Adv.
Digitally signed by
ANITA MALHOTRA
Date: 2024.11.28
                                   Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv.
20:13:38 IST
Reason:                            Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
                                   Mr. Rajesh Kr. Singh, Adv.
                                   Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.

                                                   1
Mr. S S Rebello, Adv.
Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR
Mrs. Alka Agarwal, Adv.
Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Kumar B, Adv.
Ms. Baby Devi Bonia, Adv.
Mr. Anirudh Bhat, Adv.
Mr. Prashant Singh Ii, Adv.
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Ms. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv.
Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.

Ms. Manisha Chava,Adv.(Court Commissioner)
Mr. Abhinav Aggarwal,Adv.(Court Commissioner)
Ms. Srishti Mishra,Adv.(Court Commissioner)
Mr. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala,Adv.(Court Commissioner)

Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR
Mr. Utkarsh Pratap,Adv.
Ms. Arunima Das,Adv.
Ms. Aditi Tripathi,Adv.

Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. S. Wasim A Quadri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv.
Mr. Ajay Bansal, Adv.
Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv.
Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Payal Swarup, Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR

Ms. Manali Singhal, Adv.
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR
Ms. Aanchal Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Singh Rawat, Adv.
Ms. Shreya Singhal, Adv.
Mr. Santosh Sachin, Adv.
Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv.
Ms. Shreya Nair, Adv.
Ms. Apurva Sachdev, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Vyas, Adv.
Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv.
Mr. Pradyut Kashyap, Adv.



                2
Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G.
Mr. B.K. Satija, A.A.G.
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR
Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv.
Ms. Himanshi Shakya, Adv.
Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Drishti Saraf, Adv.
Ms. Pragya Upadhyay, Adv.
Ms. Swati Mishra, Adv.
Ms. Aakanksha, Adv.

Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G.
Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR
Ms. Manisha, Adv.
Ms. Rupali, Adv.

Mr. Gurminder Singh AG/Sr. Adv.
Mr. Prashant Manchanda, A.A.G.
Mr. Vivek Jain, D.A.G.
Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR

Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR
Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv.
Ms. Neha, Adv.
Mr. Shivam Saxena, Adv.
Mr. Vipin Kumar Saxena,Adv.
Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv.
Mr. V P Pandey, Adv.

Ms. Sheyl Trehan,Adv.
Mr. Chirayu Jain,Adv.
Ms. Vidhi Jain,Adv.
Mr. Shivendra Singh,Adv.

Applicant-in-person

Petitioner-in-person

Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR

Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR

Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR

Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR

Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR

Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR


              3
Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR

Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR

Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR

Ms. Adviteeya, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR

Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, AOR

Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR

Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, AOR

Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR

M/S.   Parekh & Co., AOR

Mr. Sudhir Mendiratta, AOR

Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR

Mr. Hardeep Singh Anand, AOR

Mr. Sandeep Narain, AOR

Mr. Sushil Kumar Singh, AOR

Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR

Mr. G. Prakash, AOR

Ms. Nandini Gidwaney, AOR

Mr. Shri Narain, AOR

Mr. Umesh Kumar Khaitan, AOR

Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR

Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR

Mrs.   K. Sarada Devi, AOR

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR

Mrs. Priya Puri, AOR

Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR


               4
Mr. T. V. Ratnam, AOR

Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR

Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, AOR

M/S.   Khaitan & Co., AOR

Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR

Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain, AOR

Mr. Aniruddha Deshmukh, AOR

Mr. Ravindra Bana, AOR

Mr. Surya Kant, AOR

Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR

Mr. Abhishek, AOR

Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR
Mr. Kushagra Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Anuj Agarwal, Adv.

Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR

Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR

Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR

Mr. Pramod Dayal, AOR

Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR

M/S.   M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR

Mr. Rakesh Kumar-i, AOR

Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR

M/S.   Saharya & Co., AOR

Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR
Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv.
Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv.

Mr. Pavan Kumar, AOR



               5
M/S.   S. Narain & Co., AOR

Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR

Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR

Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR

Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR

Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR

Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR

Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR

Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR

Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR

Ms. G. Indira, AOR

Mr. Rahul Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Anki Kashyap,Adv.
Mr. Sunil Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Satya Dev Singh,Adv.
Ms. Avni Singh,Adv.
Ms. Sangita Malhotra,Adv.
Ms. Palvi Talwar,Adv.
Mr. Rajbir Singh Takshak,Adv.
Mr. Subhro Sanyal, AOR

Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR

Mr. Ravi Prakash, AOR

Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.
Mr. Indrajit Prasad, Adv.

Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR

Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR

Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR

Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR



               6
Mr. Shovan   Mishra, AOR

Ms. G. Indira, AOR

Mr. Yoginder Handoo, AOR

Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR

Mr. Rakesh Kumar-i, AOR

Mr. Parminder Singh Bhullar, AOR

Mr. Shantanu Jugtawat, Adv.
Mr. Chandrakant Sukumar, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
For M/S. Mukesh Kumar Singh And Co., AOR

Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv.
Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR

Mr. Kumar Dushyant Singh, AOR

Mr. Mukesh Verma, Adv.
Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Vatsala Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR

Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR

Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR

Mr. Anuj Bhandari, AOR

Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR

Ms. Lubna Naaz, AOR

Ms. Shashi Kiran, AOR

Ms. Aastha Mehta, Adv.
Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR
Ms. Prerana Mohapatra, Adv.
Ms. Prina Sharma, Adv.

Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR

Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv.

M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR


               7
Ms. Sanjivani Aggarwal, Adv.
Ms. Jyoti Aggarwal, Adv.
Mr. Pradeep Shekhavat, Adv.
Ms. Filza Moonis, AOR

Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR

Ms. Charu Ambwani, AOR

Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR
Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv.

Mr. Rajesh Kumar Maurya,Adv.
Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR

Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR

Ms. Divya Jyoti Singh, AOR

Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR

Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR
Mr. Shalen Bhardwaj, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Kumar Panigrahi, Adv.
Ms. Lakshmi, Adv.
Ms. Ekta Kalra, Adv.
Mr. Virender Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Garima Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Deepender Kumar Pathak, Adv.

Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR

Mr. Yashraj Singh Bundela, AOR
Mr. Surjeet Singh, Adv.
Mr. Chanakya Baruah, Adv.
Ms. Saloni, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Singla, Adv.

Mr. Syed Miran Ahmad, Adv.
Mr. Abhaya Nath Das, Adv.
Mr. Om Prakash Sapra, Adv.
Mr. Vinod Kumar Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Hukum Deo Prasad, Adv.
Ms. Monica Goel, Adv.
Mr. B C Bhatt, Adv.
Mr. Kishor Kumar Mishra, Adv.
Mr. S S Bandyopadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Shashank Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR


              8
Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR

Mr. Gaurav, AOR

Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.

Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR

Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR

Mr. Harsh V. Surana, AOR

Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR

Ms. Ishita Jain, AOR
Mr. Anand Kumar Shrivastava, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Bhandari, Adv.

Mr. Manish Kumar Gupta, AOR

Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR

Mr. Akshay Girish Ringe, AOR

Mr. L.K. Paonam, Adv.
Mr. Niraj B. Paonam, Adv.
Ms. Tomthinnganbi Koijam, Adv.
Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR

M/S.   M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR

Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR
Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv.

Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv.

Mr. Puneet Taneja, AOR
Mr. Amit Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Manmohan Singh Narula, Adv.
Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv.

Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR

Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR

Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR



               9
Ms. Shagun Matta, AOR

Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR

Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR

Mr. D.Kumanan, AOR
Ms. Deepa S, Adv.
Mr. Sheikh F Kalia, Adv.
Mr. Veshal Tyagi, Adv.
Mr. Chinmay Anand Panigrahi, Adv.

Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR

Ms. Rooh-e-hina Dua, AOR

Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR

Ms. Divya Roy, AOR

M/S.   S. Narain & Co., AOR

Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G.
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv.
Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv.

Ms. Puja Sharma, AOR

Mr. Gautam Narayan, AOR
Ms. Asmita Singh, Adv.
Mr. Tushar Nair, Adv.
Mr. Anirudh Anand, Adv.
Mr. Punishk Handa, Adv.

Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR

Mr. Danish Zubair Khan, AOR

Mr. Vikas Mehta, AOR

Mr. H S Phoolka, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Niraj Gupta, AOR
Mrs. Anshu Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Arni Chaudhari, Adv.
Ms. Surpreet Kaur, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Jain, Adv.

Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR


              10
Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR

Mr. Ayush Sharma, AOR

Mr. Anurag Kishore, AOR

Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR

Dr. Brij Bhushan K Jauhari, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Jyoti Ghildiyal, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Mahan, Adv.
Ms. Purnima Jauhari, AOR

Mr. Hiren Dasan, AOR

Mr. Ajay Vikram Singh, AOR
Mrs. Priyanka Singh, Adv.
Mr. Shubham Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. M. Aamir Faiyaz, Adv.

Mr. K. Paari Vendhan, AOR

Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR

Ms. Astha Tyagi, AOR

Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR

Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR

Ms. Anushree Prashit Kapadia, AOR

Mr. Ketan Paul, AOR

Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv.
Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv.
Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
Mr. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
For M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR

Ms. Malvika Kapila, AOR

Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, AOR

Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR
Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv.



             11
Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR

Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR
Ms. Debarati Sadhu, Adv.

Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR

Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR

Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR

Mr. Sameer Kumar, AOR

Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR

Mr. Dhananjaya Mishra, AOR

Mr. Rahul Khurana, AOR

Mr. Rajiv Yadav, AOR

Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR

Mr. Rishi Matoliya, AOR

Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR

Mr. Durga Dutt, AOR

Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR
Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv.
Ms. Preeti Sehrawat, Adv.

Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, AOR

Mr. Gaurav Choudhary, AOR

Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv.
Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.

Ms. Nidhi Mohan Parashar, AOR

Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR

Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR

Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR


             12
Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR

Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
Mr. Keshav Singh, Adv.

Mr. M. P. Devanath, AOR

Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Srishti Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Sumeet Mishra, Adv.
Mr. R. C. Kohli, AOR

Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR

Mr. Prakash Ranjan Nayak, AOR

Mr. Nitin Saluja, AOR

Mr. Deepayan Mandal, AOR

Ms. Shalu Sharma, AOR

Mr. Chritarth Palli, Adv.
Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR

Mr. Akhil Anand, AOR

Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR
Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Yadav, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Singh, Adv.
Ms. Pearl Sharma, Adv.

Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR

Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, AOR

Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR

Mr. Aakarshan Aditya, AOR

Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR

Mr. Prasanna S., AOR

Ms. Mithu Jain, AOR

Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR

Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR


             13
                 Mr. Shariq Ahmed, Adv.
                 For M/S. Ahmadi Law Offices, AOR

                 Ms. Surabhi Sanchita, AOR
                 Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR

                 Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv.
                 Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv.
                 Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
                 Mr. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
                 For M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR

                 Mr. Vinodh Kanna B., AOR

                 Mr. Sandeep Singh, AOR

                 Ms. N. Annapoorani, AOR

                 Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR

                 Ms. Neeru Vaid, AOR

                 Mr. Avi Singh, Adv.
                 Mr. Shiven Varma, Adv.
                 Mr. Dhruv Malik, Adv.
                 Ms. Komal Mundhra, Adv.
                 Mr. Saurabh Agrawal, AOR


       UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
                          O R D E R

1. We had a glance at the second report of the Court Commissioners. What both reports depict is the abject failure of the various authorities to implement Graded Response Action Plan (for short, “the GRAP”)-IV measures in its true letter and spirit. There are violations pointed out in both the reports. We request the Court Commissioners to supply the copies of both the reports to the learned counsel representing the States and other stake holders. We expect the States to make a statement before us about the action which they propose to take in 14 case of breaches which are specifically pointed out by the Court Commissioners.

2. We continue the appointment of the Court Commissioners.

3. We accept the suggestions made by the Court Commissioners and direct the Transport Department of Delhi Government and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to appoint Nodal Officers for the purposes of facilitating the work by the Court Commissioners.

4. Immediate issue which needs to be addressed is that the trucks are allowed to enter the limits of Delhi and then after travelling some distance, they are taking U-turn to go back to the place from where they have arrived. This issue also needs to be addressed.

5. We make it clear that all GRAP-IV measures except the measures which are modified in respect of the schools will continue to operate till Monday i.e. 2nd December, 2024.

6. We clarify that as far as clause (1) of Stage IV ('Severe +' Air Quality) of GRAP is concerned, there is a complete ban on the entry of all trucks in Delhi except the following categories:

(a) The trucks carrying essential commodities;
(b) The trucks providing essential services; and
(c) All LNG/CNG/Electric/BS-VI diesel trucks. 15

7. There are no other exceptions admissible under clause (1) of Stage IV. Therefore, if any authority has issued any instructions which run contrary to the above, the same will not bind the Police and other staff posted at the entry points.

8. In the meanwhile, the Commission for Air Quality Management (for short, “the Commission”) will hold a meeting and come out with their suggestions about moving from GRAP-IV to GRAP-III or GRAP-II. We also make it clear that it is not necessary that all measures which are provided in GRAP-IV should be dispensed with. There can be a combination of measures in GRAP-III and GRAP-IV. The suggestions of the Commission with reasons shall be placed before the Court on Monday i.e. 2nd December, 2024.

9. We are informed that our directions in paragraph 4 of the order dated 25th November, 2024 has not been implemented by any of the National Capital Region States. We direct the compliance to be made with the said directions at the earliest and in any case on or before Monday i.e. 2nd December, 2024.

10. Our attention is invited to the compliance report filed by the Commission. Show cause notices have been issued to the various functionaries for taking action under Section 14 of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 (for short, "the Act"). The action needs to be expedited.

16

11. Our attention is also invited to an article appearing in India Today of 27th November, 2024 which records that a Land Records Officer and others admitted that they were advising the farmers to burn stubble after 4.00 p.m. to avoid satellite detection. We are not accepting the correctness of this news item. But if it is correct, it is very serious. The State officials cannot permit any farmer to take advantage of the fact that at present, only those farm fire activities are being detected which take place during few hours of the day. The Government of Punjab shall immediately issue instructions to all the officials not to indulge in any such activities.

12. In terms of paragraph 5 of our last order, the Commission will issue the necessary directions consisting of mitigating measures as suggested by us in paragraph 5.

13. The learned Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Union of India states that the clarification issued by the Director (Technical) of the Commission on 28th November, 2024 will be withdrawn.

14. To be listed at the end of the cause list on 2nd December, 2024.

 (ANITA MALHOTRA)                                                  (AVGV RAMU)
    AR-CUM-PS                                                     COURT MASTER




                                             17