Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 25 November, 2024
Author: Abhay S. Oka
Bench: Abhay S. Oka
ITEM NO.68 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)
(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 : 25-11-2024 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. (A.C.)
Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Adv. (A.C.)
Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, Adv. (A.C.)
Ms. Shibani Ghosh, Adv.
Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, Adv.
Mr. Aditya N. Prasad, Adv./Court Commissioner
(Co-ordinator)
Mr. Manan Verma, Adv./Court Commissioner
Mr. Pratyush Jain, Adv./Court Commissioner
For the Parties Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Mr. V. Balaji, Adv.
Mr. Mayank Pandey, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Bharat Singh, Adv.
Digitally signed by
ASHISH KONDLE
Date: 2024.11.25
Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv.
19:18:34 IST
Reason: Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Adv.
1
Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv.
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.
Mr. Tushar Shrivastava, Adv.
Ms. Shreya Nair, Adv.
Ms. Apurva Sachdev, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Vyas, Adv.
Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv.
Mr. Shadan Farasat, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR
Ms. Ananya Basudha, Adv.
Ms. Natasha Maheshwari, Adv.
Mr. Prannav Dhawan, Adv.
Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR
Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv.
Ms. Arunima Das, Adv.
Ms. Aditi Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Ms. Suhashinin Sen, Adv.
Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Ms. Neelakshi Bhadouria, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv.
Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv.
Applicant-in-person, AOR
Petitioner-in-person
Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR
Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR
Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. E.C. Agrawala, AOR
2
Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR
Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR
Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR
Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR
Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR
Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR
Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR
Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR
Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, AOR
Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR
Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, AOR
Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR
Mr. Mandaar Mukesh Giri, Adv.
Mr. Aakash Shankar, Adv.
Mr. L.K. Giri, Adv.
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
3
Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR
Mrs. K. Sarada Devi, AOR
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR
Mrs. Priya Puri, AOR
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. Manjula Gupta, AOR
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. R. P. Gupta, AOR
Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR
Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR
Mr. Pramod Dayal, AOR
4
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
M/S. S. Narain & Co., AOR
Mr. Sandeep Narain, Adv.
Ms. Kanak Malik, Adv.
Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR
Mrs. Mahima C Shroff, Adv.
Mr. Anand Thumbayil, Adv.
Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR
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.
Mr. K.P. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR
Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR
Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mrs. Archna Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
Mr. Wasim Quadri, Sr. Adv.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kr. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.
Mr. S S Rebello, Adv.
Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.
Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR
Ms. Surabhi Sanchita, AOR
5
Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR
Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv.
Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv.
Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv.
Mr. Maheswaran Prabakaran, Adv.
For M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Mr. Vinodh Kanna B., AOR
Mr. Sandeep Singh, AOR
Ms. N. Annapoorani, AOR
Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR
Ms. Neeru Vaid, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.
Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Ms. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
Mr. Vineet Singh, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Mr. Avi Singh, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Shiven Varma, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Malik, Adv.
Ms. Pragya Dubey, Adv.
Ms. Komal Mundhra, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR
Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR
Ms. G. Indira, AOR
6
Mr. Subhro Sanyal, AOR
Mr. Sagar Roy, Adv.
Mr. Satya Dev Singh, Adv.
Ms. Anki Kashyap, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Sahay, Adv.
Mr. Rajbir Singh Takshak, Adv.
Avni Singh, Adv.
Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR
Mr. Ravi Prakash, AOR
Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.
Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR
Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR
Mr. K.V. Mohan, AOR
Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR
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 Sarkar, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. C M Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Savyasachi Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Narendra Kumar Goyal, Adv.
For M/S. Mukesh Kumar Singh And Co., AOR
Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR
Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv.
Mr. Kumar Dushyant Singh, AOR
Mr. Rohit Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Nikhil Purohit, Adv.
Mr. Jatin Lalwani, Adv.
Mr. Jay Rawat, Adv.
7
Mr. Mukesh Verma, Adv.
Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Vatsala Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR
Mrs. Rajshri Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. Amit P Shahi, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv.
Mr. H B Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Sethi, Adv.
Mr. Shashibhushan Nagar, Adv.
Mr. Sumant A Khan, Adv.
Mrs. Sona Khan, Adv.
Mr. Rajendra Anbhule, Adv.
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.
Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR
Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR
Ms. Sanjivani Aggarwal, Adv.
Ms. Jyoti Aggarwal, Adv.
Mr. Pradeep Shekhavat, Adv.
Ms. Filza Moonis, AOR
M/S. Karanjawala & Co., 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
8
Mr. Ashok Kumar Rai, Adv.
Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR
Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR
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. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR
Mr. Abhaya Nath Das, Adv.
Mr. S S Bandyopadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Vinod Kumar Shukla, Adv.
Mr. B C Bhatt, Adv.
Mr. N D Kaushik, Adv.
Ms. Monica Goel, Adv.
Mrs. Barnali Basak, Adv.
Mr. Kishor Kumar Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Hukum Deo Prasad, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Gaurav, AOR
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Divya Jyoti Singh, AOR
Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR
Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR
Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Harsh V. Surana, AOR
Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR
Ms. Ishita Jain, AOR
Mr. Anand Kumar Shrivastava, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Bhandari, Adv.
9
Mr. Manish Kumar Gupta, AOR
Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Akshay Girish Ringe, AOR
Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR
M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR
Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR
Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv.
Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv.
Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Puneet Taneja, AOR
Mr. Manmohan Singh Narula, Adv.
Mr. Amit Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR
Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR
Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR
Ms. Shagun Matta, AOR
Mr. Gaurav, 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. Sandeep Narain, Adv.
10
Ms. Kanak Malik, Adv.
Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G.
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv.
Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
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
Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. Adv./AAG
Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR
Ms. Rupali, Adv.
Ms. Nidhi Singh, Adv.
Mr. Niraj Gupta, AOR
Mrs. Anshu Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Jain, Adv.
Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR
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. O.P. Singh, 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.
11
Mr. M. Aamir Faiyaz, Adv.
Mr. K. Paari Vendhan, AOR
Mr. Gurminder Singh, AG Punjab, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Prashant Manchanda, A.A.G.
Mr. Vivek Jain, D.A.G.
Mr. Karan Sharma, 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. Maheswaran Prabakaran, Adv.
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.
Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR
Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR
Ms. Debarati Sadhu, Adv.
Ms. Srija Choudhury, Adv.
Mr. Anant, Adv.
Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR
Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR
Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR
Mr. Sameer Kumar, AOR
Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR
12
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. Vikas Bansal, Adv.
Ms. Preeti Sehrawat, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Suhashinin Sen, Adv.
Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Ms. Neelakshi Bhadouria, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Choudhary, AOR
Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR
Mr. Shivam Saxena, Adv.
Mr. Vipin Kumar Saxena, Adv.
Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv.
Ms. Neha Das, Adv.
Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv.
Mr. V.P. Pandey, Adv.
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
13
Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mrs. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. 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.
Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR
Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR
Mr. Shashank Singh, Adv.
Mr. Madan Chandra Karnatak, Adv.
Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR
Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
Mr. Dhruv Yadav, 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. Sahil Tagotra, AOR
Mr. Sujay Jain, Adv.
Mr. Zubin Dash, Adv.
Mr. Akhil Anand, AOR
Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR
Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Yadav, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Singh, Adv.
Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR
14
Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, AOR
Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR
Mr. Aakarshan Aditya, AOR
Mr. Vibhu Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Satish C Kaushik, Adv.
Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR
Mr. Prasanna S., AOR
Ms. Mithu Jain, AOR
Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR
M/S. Ahmadi Law Offices, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G.
Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kr.singh, Adv.
Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.
Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Sweksha, Adv.
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR
Mr. Pushkar Sharma, AOR
Ms. Nagma Bee, Adv.
Mr. Shyel Trehan, Adv.
Mr. Chirayu Jain, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Poddar, Adv.
Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1. A joint report dated 25th November, 2024 submitted by Shri Aditya N. Prasad, learned Advocate, the Coordinator of the Court Commissioners, is taken on record. At the outset, we must complement the 13 members of the Bar who are appointed as Court Commissioners for the excellent work done by them. Their appointment as Court Commissioners will continue and they will continue their visits to various entry points and keep on 15 submitting the reports to the Court.
2. It is apparent that the Authorities, which are mentioned against clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (for short, “the GRAP”), have made no earnest effort to implement the action in terms of clauses 1, 2 and 3. There is inaction on their part. Some Police teams were deputed only at a few entry points, and that also without any specific instructions. Most of them were clueless. In fact, the report of the Court Commissioners indicates that at most of the entry points in Delhi State, the Police were deputed only after the order of this Court of 22nd November 2024. There is a serious lapse on the part of the Authorities mentioned against clauses 1, 2 and 3. We, therefore, direct the Commission for Air Quality Management (for short, “the Commission”) to immediately initiate action in terms of Section 14 of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 (for short, “the Act”) against the defaulting officers/entities.
3. Now, the question is whether Stage IV norms need relaxation. Unless the Court is satisfied that there is a consistent downward trend of AQI, we cannot permit the Commission to go down to Stage III or Stage II of the GRAP, as the case may be.
4. As we are continuing the Stage IV norms, pending further orders, we direct all the NCR States to use the funds which have been collected as labour cess for the welfare of the construction workers by providing them weekly subsistence allowance for the 16 period during which the construction activities are prohibited. In substance, all the NCR States will comply with the directions issued by this Court in terms of clause (ii) of the order dated 24th November 2021 relating to payment of the requisite amount by way of subsistence allowance. The action shall be taken immediately by the State Governments.
5. It is obvious that due to the implementation of Stage IV measures, several sections of society may have been adversely affected. The Commission has all the powers under Section 12(1) of the Act to issue directions to various Authorities to take several measures to ensure that the persons in the category of labourers, daily wagers, economically weaker sections, etc., do not suffer. We, therefore, direct the Commission to immediately consider the issue of taking mitigating measures by issuing necessary directions in the exercise of the powers in Section 12 of the Act.
6. A chart has been tendered across the Bar by Ms Aishwarya Bhati, learned ASG, which shows that AQI in Delhi (not the entire region) from 20th November 2024 to 24th November 2024 ranges between 318 and 419. We direct the Commission to place updated data on the next date so that the Court can take a call on the continuation of Stage IV measures of the GRAP.
7. In the meanwhile, we direct the Commission to consider the grant of relaxation of actions in terms of clauses 5 and 8 of Stage IV measures (only in relation to educational institutions) as well as clause 11 of Stage III measures. The Commission may consider of 17 grant of exemptions to certain classes from the aforesaid actions/measures. The Commission will have to consider the grant of relaxation/exemption as regards the actions under the aforesaid three clauses for various reasons, including the following:
(i) A large number of students are being deprived of the facility of Mid Day Meals as the schools and anganwadis are closed;
(ii) A large number of students do not have the
facilities to take benefit of online education. Many
educational institutions do not have facilities to provide online education; and
(iii) The residences of many students do not have air purifiers, and therefore, there may not be any difference between the children sitting at home and the children attending school.
An appropriate decision shall be taken by the Commission on the above aspects immediately, even if a copy of this order is not available. The learned ASG appearing for the Commission to communicate this order to the Commission. We also leave it to the Commission to decide on the continuation of the ban on conducting physical classes of X and XII standards on the same grounds.
8. Various options can be considered by the Commission. One can be of granting relaxation to those schools and educational institutions which do not have the facility of online education, and the other can be of granting relaxation to those students who do not have the facilities of attending online education at their 18 respective homes. We make it clear that we are leaving it to the Commission to decide to what extent, if any, the measures relating to education which are otherwise applicable in Stages III and IV of the GRAP can be either relaxed or exceptions can be carved out. We expect that a decision shall be taken by the Commission during the course of the day or, at the latest, by tomorrow morning so that it can be implemented. We make it clear that all other actions provided in stage IV shall be scrupulously implemented. The Court Commissioners are free to bring to the notice of the Court violations of the actions under the GRAP.
9. The Commission will look into the suggestions made by the Court Commissioners, especially against Item No.7 in paragraph 2 of their report.
10. For issuing further directions, list the Petition on 28th November 2024 at 3:30 p.m. (ASHISH KONDLE) (AVGV RAMU) COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER (NSH) 19