Supreme Court pulls up CAQM for lax approach on Delhi-NCR air pollution, seeks urgent action plan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday chastised the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for its lackadaisical approach to tackling the rising menace of air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the statutory body to urgently convene a coordinated meeting of domain experts and place a comprehensive report on record and in the public domain.

The bench also directed CAQM to formulate and consider the issue of toll plaza uninfluenced by the stand taken by different stakeholders. Speaking for the bench, CJI Kant orally remarked that the foremost task of CAQM should be to identify major reasons of pollution and their approximate attributions. CJI Kant asked the statutory body to bring such reasons into the public domain.


The bench flatly refused the demand of CAQM counsel to adjourn the matter for two months. Making it clear that the bench will not grant more than two weeks and will regularly take up the matter, CJI Kant said that CAQM "is failing in its responsibilities".

"By holding a meeting on January 2, you will come to us and say that you will come after two months, this is not acceptable to us," CJI Kant orally remarked making it clear to the commission that it will have to find a solution. The bench lamented the commission's "unserious" approach.

The bench observed in its order that different expert institutions, including technical bodies such as the IIT, had attributed widely varying percentages to emission sectors. The bench regretted the fact that despite various measures taken over a period of several years, the air quality in the National Capital Region continues to remain poor.

The SC further observed that at the last hearing (in December), CAQM had been specifically directed to revisit long-term remedial measures. However, instead of placing a concrete action plan, the commission had merely filed a status note which "does not reflect any seriousness on the part of the authority, and is unfortunately silent on most of the issues raised by this court", SC remarked.

The bench also observed that the commission appeared to be in "no hurry" to either identify the precise causes of worsening AQI or to formulate long-term solutions, forcing SC to issue directions to expedite both exercises. CAQM has also been directed to simultaneously begin examining long-term solutions and plan their phased implementation, prioritising measures addressing the highest contributing sources of pollution.