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Supreme Court - Daily Orders

M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 27 September, 2024

Author: Abhay S. Oka

Bench: Abhay S. Oka

     ITEM NO.62                          COURT NO.6                 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: NUMBER OF VACANT POSTS IN STATUTORY POLLUTION CONTROL
     BOARDS OF VARIOUS STATES AND IN RE: SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL AND I.A.
     NO. 210415 OF 2024 [(APPLICATION FOR IMPLEADMENT AS PARTY
     PETITIONER) AND I.A. NO. 211942 OF 2024 (APPLICATION FOR
     CLARIFICATION/DIRECTION) FILED ON BEHALF OF MS. BHAVREEN KANDHARI]
     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.) PETITIONER-IN-PERSON MR. G.S.
     MAKKER, MR. AMRISH KUMAR, MR. M.K. MARORIA MR. SANJAY KR. VISEN,
     MR. SUDEEP KUMAR, MS. ROOHE HINA DUA, MR. SANDEEP KR. JHA MR. JYOTI
     MENDIRATTA, MR. RAHUL KHURANA, ADVOCATE MR. MANAN VERMA, ADVOCATE
     IA No.221221/2024 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
     IA No.221344/2024 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS
     IA No.221347/2024 - STAY APPLICATION)

     Date : 27-09-2024 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. Siddhartha Chowdhury,Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
                                   Ms. Shibani Ghosh,Adv.
                                   Mr. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala,Adv.

     For the parties:
                                   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.
Signature Not Verified
                                   Mr. Rajesh Kr. Singh, Adv.
Digitally signed by
Anita Malhotra
Date: 2024.09.30
                                   Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.
19:04:35 IST
Reason:                            Mr. S S Rebello, Adv.
                                   Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
                                   Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR

                                                   1
Mrs. Alka Agarwal, Adv.
Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Kumar B, Adv.
Ms. Baby Devi Bonia, Adv.
Mr. Anirudh Bhat, Adv.
Mr. Prashant Singh Ii, Adv.
Ms. Shagun Thakur,Adv.
Mr. Abhinav Aggarwal,Adv.
Mr. Vaibhav Kandpal,Adv.
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR

Ms. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. S. Wasim A Quadri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR
Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv.
Ms. Arunima Das, Adv.
Mr. Devadipta Das, Adv.
Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv.
Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv.

Mr. A.N.S.Nadkarni,Sr.Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Katyal,Adv.
Mr. Devendra Kumar Singh,Adv.
Mr. Karunakar Mahalik, AOR
Mr. Sarbendra Kumar,Adv.

Mr. Ravindra Srivastava,Sr.Adv.
Ms. Charu Mathur,Adv.
Mr. Abinav Kumar Verma,Adv.
Mr. Sameer Bhardwaj,Adv.
Ms. Sanya Shukla,Adv.
Ms. Devangna Singh,Adv.
Ms. Kriti Dubey,Adv.
Ms. Selina Raj,Adv.
Mr. Aniket Singh Das,Adv.

Mr. Pijush Kanti Roy,Sr.Adv.
Mr. Rahul Kaushik,Sr.Adv.
Mr. Syed Ali Ahmad,Adv.
Mr. Soumya Kundu,Adv.
Mr. S.S.Bandyopadhyay,Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Mishra,Adv.
Mr. Ankit Verma,Adv.
Mr. Syed Miran Ahmad,Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR

Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR
Ms. Manisha, Adv.
Ms. Rupali, Adv.

Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR


              2
Applicant-in-person

Petitioner-in-person

Mr. Lokesh Sinhal,Sr.AAG
Mr. B.K.Satija,AAG
Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR
Ms. Drishti Saraf,Adv.
Ms. Pragya Upadhyay,Adv.
Mr. Rahul Khurana,Adv.

Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR

Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR

Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR
Mr. T. V. Ratnam, AOR
Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR

Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, AOR
Mr. Vishal, Adv.
Mr. Kapil Chaturvedi, Adv.
Mrs. Subhadra Dwivedi, Adv.

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. Gunmaya S Mann, Adv.
Mr. Roop Narain, Adv.
Mr. Vineet Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Sambhav Jain, Adv.

Mr. Abhishek, AOR

Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR

Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR

Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR



               3
Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR

Mr. Pramod Dayal, AOR

Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR

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

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

Mr. Rakesh Kumar-i, AOR

Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR

M/S.   Saharya & Co., AOR

Mr. Pavan Kumar, AOR

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

Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR
Mr. Dhananjay Kataria, Adv.
Mrs. Mahima C Shroff, Adv.
Mr. Anand Thumbayil, Adv.

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

Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR

Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR

Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR

Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR

Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR

Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR



               4
Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR

Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR

Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, AOR

Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, AOR

Mr. Mandaar Mukesh Giri, Adv.
Mr. Aakash Shankar, Adv.
Mr. Kautilya Sharma, Adv.
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. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR

Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR

Mr. Danish Zubair Khan, AOR


               5
Mr. Vikas Mehta, AOR

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

Ms. Divya Roy, AOR

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

Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv.
Ms. 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.

Dr. Brij Bhushan K Jauhari, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Jyoti Ghildiyal, Adv.
Mr. O.P.Singh, Adv.
Mr. Satya Vir Singh Rana, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Mahan, Adv.
Ms. Purnima Jauhari, AOR

Mr. Hiren Dasan, AOR

Mr. Ajay Vikram Singh, AOR

Mr. K. Paari Vendhan, AOR

Mr. Aditya N Prasad, Adv.
Mr. Pratyush Jain, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Shah, Adv.
Ms. Ayushi Hatwal, Adv.
Mr. Manan Verma, AOR

Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR

Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR

Mr. Ayush Sharma, AOR

Mr. Anurag Kishore, AOR

Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR


               6
Mr. Ketan Paul, AOR

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

Ms. Malvika Kapila, AOR

Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, AOR

Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR
Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv.
Mr. Sarthak Dora, Adv.
Ms. Ayushi Bansal, Adv.

Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR

Ms. Astha Tyagi, AOR

Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR

Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR

Ms. Anushree Prashit Kapadia, AOR

Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR

Mr. Sameer Kumar, AOR

Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR

Mr. Dhananjaya Mishra, AOR

Mr. Rahul Khurana, AOR

Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR

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

Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR
Ms. Natasha Thukral, Adv.

Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR



              7
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR

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

Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, AOR

Mr. Gaurav Choudhary, AOR

Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR
Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv.
Ms. Neha Das, Adv.
Mr. Shiva Saxena, Adv.
Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv.

Mr. Rajiv Yadav, AOR

Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR

Mr. Rishi Matoliya, AOR

Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR

Mr. Durga Dutt, AOR

Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR

Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR

Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR

Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR
Mr. Samarth Luthra, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Yadav, 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

Mr. Deepayan Mandal, AOR



              8
Ms. Shalu Sharma, AOR

Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR
Mr. Sujay Jain, Adv.

Mr. Akhil Anand, AOR

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

Mr. M. P. Devanath, AOR

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

Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR

Mr. Prakash Ranjan Nayak, AOR

Mr. Nitin Saluja, 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.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR

Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR

Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, AOR

Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR

Mr. Aakarshan Aditya, AOR

Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR



              9
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. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Indira Bhakar, Adv.

Ms. Surabhi Sanchita, AOR

Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR

Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR

Mr. Vinodh Kanna B., AOR

Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv.
Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.

Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR

Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR

Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR

Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR

Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR

Ms. G. Indira, AOR

Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR

Mr. Ravi Prakash, AOR



             10
Mr. Sagar Roy,Adv.
Ms. Anki Kashyap,Adv.
Ms. Deepmala,Adv.
Ms. Sukriti Kiran,Adv.
Ms. Baby Rajput,Adv.
Mr. Sunil Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Usman Khan,Adv.
Mr. Subhro Sanyal, AOR

Mr. Parminder Singh Bhullar, AOR

Mr. Chandrakant Sukumar Sarkar, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Ikshit Singhal, Adv.
Mr. C M Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. K Venkateshwara Prasad, Adv.
Mr. Shantanu Jugtawat, Adv.
For M/S. Mukesh Kumar Singh And Co., AOR

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

Ms. Shashi Kiran, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Sadhana Sandhu, AOR
Dr. Satish Chandra, Adv.
Ms. Ashna Singh, Adv.
Mr. Arjun Sain, Adv.

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

Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR

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




              11
Mr. Mukesh Verma, Adv.
Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Pawan Kumar Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Vatsala Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR

Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, 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. Anirban Tripathy, Adv.
Mr. Rajendra Anbhule, Adv.
Mr. Manish Dhingra, Adv.
Mr. Pratham Mehrotra, Adv.

Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR

Mr. Anuj Bhandari, AOR

Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR

Ms. Lubna Naaz, AOR

Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR
Mr. Ashok Kumar Panigrah, Adv.
Ms. Lakshmi, Adv.
Mr. Shalen Bhardwaj, Adv.
Ms. Banisha Verma, Adv.

Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR

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

Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR

M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR

Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR

Ms. Charu Ambwani, AOR


             12
Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv.
Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR

Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Maurya,Adv.
Ms. Baby Rajput,Adv.

Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR

Mr. Harsh V. Surana, AOR
Mr. Rudresh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Karan Shankla, Adv.

Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR

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

Mr. Gaurav, AOR

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

Ms. Divya Jyoti Singh, AOR

Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR

Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR

Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR

Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Ravi Shanker Jha, Adv.

Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR

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

Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR

Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR

Mr. Akshay Girish Ringe, AOR

Ms. Aswathi M.k., AOR


             13
                M/S.   M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR

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

                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. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR

                Ms. Shagun Matta, AOR

                Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR

                Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR

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

IA Nos.221221, 221344, 221347, 212631 and 215408 OF 2024

1. List these applications on 25th October, 2024. IA Nos.210415 and 211942 OF 2024

2. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the applicants.

3. As of today, there is no material placed on record to show that the Delhi High Court has interpreted the following part of our order in a particular manner:

"In our opinion, approach road is absolutely necessary and there should be no delay on the part of the concerned authorities."
14

4. Hence, there is no reason to entertain these applications and the same are accordingly dismissed. IN RE: COMMISSION FOR AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT (CAQM)

5. We have heard the learned Amicus Curiae and also the learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the Commission for Air Quality Management (for short, 'the Commission') in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas. The Commission has been set up under Act No.29 of 2021 for the purposes of better coordination, research, identification and resolution of problems surrounding the air quality index and matters connected therewith in the National Capital Region area.

6. There are multiple reports/affidavits filed on record by the Commission. Though we cannot say that the Commission has not taken any action, the learned Amicus Curiae is right in submitting that the Commission has not performed the way it was expected to perform, considering the object for which the Commission was set up.

7. One of the critical issues to be dealt with by the Commission is the issue of stubble burning in the current season. It is brought on record that certain equipment has been provided to the farmers from the money supplied by the Central Government. The equipment can be used as a substitute for stubble burning. Some efforts need to be made to ensure that the farmers use the equipment at the grass-root level.

15

8. The Act has been in existence for more than three years now. Hardly 85 to 87 directions have been issued so far by the Commission under Section 12(1) of the Act. No action has been taken even after finding that the directions have not been implemented; possibly, the action could be taken under Section 14 of the Act.

9. The Chairperson of the Commission who is present today in the Court through video conference, states that three sub-committees mentioned in sub-section (1) of Section 11 are holding only one meeting every three months. The sub-committee on Monitoring and Identification and the sub-committee on Safeguarding and Enforcement have been assigned important tasks. We wonder how they perform those tasks by meeting only once in three months.

10. One of the important duties assigned to the Commission is to coordinate with the State authorities in the National Capital Region. There are vast powers conferred on the Commission under Section 12 of the Act, including the power to direct the closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry, operation or process.

11. We are of the view that though the Commission has taken certain steps, the Commission needs to be more active. The Commission must ensure that its efforts and directions translate into reducing the problem of pollution. We would like to know from the Commission 16 about the meetings held of the three Committees under Section 11(1) of the Act and the decisions taken thereunder. The Commission must immediately step into action to ensure that the farmers use the equipment provided at the cost of the Central Government to avoid stubble burning. Thus, apart from specific methods suggested by the Commission for dealing with the stubble burning, the Commission must also record the details of the three Committee meetings and the decisions taken thereunder.

12. We direct the Commission to file a better compliance report recording compliance with the provisions of the Act and the steps taken to enforce not only the provisions but also the recommendations of the Committees and the directions issued by the Commission.

13. For considering the said report, list on 3rd October, 2024.

14. The learned Amicus Curiae is seeking the following directions:

"9. It is submitted that given the wide powers of CAQM to develop an effective platform to synergise the energies and efforts of all stakeholders in developing innovative ways to monitor and enforce under the Act:
a) the CPCB and all the other pollution control bodies in NCR and adjoining areas, may be directed to tag the CAQM along with the concerned implementing authority while responding to a Complaint on their social media 17 page. This would help CAQM monitor the response of the authorities.
b) the authority tagged for resolving the complaint should also be directed to upload compliance or reason for non-compliance on the same handle by tagging the CAQM and CPCB.
         c)         This    would       help    the   Commission      in
      identifying          the      roadblocks         and       fixing
accountability of the authorities in real-time for the purposes of punitive action under S.14."

15. We see no difficulty in accepting the prayers. Therefore, it will be appropriate for all concerned to act upon the said three directions sought by the learned Amicus Curiae. For reporting compliance with these aspects, we will consider the case on 18th October, 2024 at the end of the Board.

IN RE: SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

16. List on 18th October, 2024 at the end of the Board.

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




                                          18