Concerned that people in Delhi-NCR cannot even breathe clean air, the Supreme Court on Friday appointed its former judge Madan B Lokur as one-man committee to prevent and stop stubble burning in the national capital’s adjoining states.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, described the situation as an “emergency”, requiring the top court to step in before the problem of bad air and smog assumes unmanageable proportion.
“We are concerned that citizens of Delhi and NCR should be able to breathe fresh air…good clean air. This court will not be in session for nine days after today and we don’t want people in Delhi-NCR to suffer because of stubble burning,” observed the bench.
It accepted the suggestion made by senior advocate Vikas Singh that Justice Lokur, who has heard matters relating to environmental pollution as a judge, should be requested to assist.
Singh was appearing for the teenager, Aditya Dubey, who has sought intervention of the top court to ensure people could get clean air as their fundamental right to health and safety.
According to the senior lawyer, the stubble burning incidents this year had gone up by five times. “Compared to 260 last year, more than 1200 fires have already taken place this year. The states should now tell why more than five times the fire took place this year,” contended Singh.
He also cited the affidavit by Punjab government, which claimed it has developed an android based mobile app and set up a dashboard for monitoring stubble burning, and asked why such incidents were on the rise despite these claims.
Appearing for the Central government, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati pleaded that the bench should rather hear this matter along with a batch of similar pleas in the 1985- MC Mehta’s PIL, in which these issues are already pending.
But the CJI was unimpressed: “Can you give us an assurance that it won’t be an unmanageable problem by the time this matter is taken up after reopening of this court after nine days?”
Meanwhile, Singh obtained consent from Justice Lokur to be appointed as a one-man committee.
The bench then proceeded to pass its order of appointing the retired judge and directed the chief secretaries of the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi to provide all assistance to Justice Lokur.
The committee can also have the assistance of cadets from the NCC, NSS or Bharat Scouts to map out the incidents of stubble burning in different states and report back periodically.
The court also clarified that Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) shall continue to discharge its functions in terms of its previous directions, and that Justice Lokur committee was being set up to make certain some monitoring before the problem assumes unhealthy proportion.
The bench will take up this matter next on October 26.
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