Delhi pollution makes India seem incapable of dealing with problem abroad, says CJI TS Thakur

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on Thursday expressed concern over the alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi and asked the government to get its act together and deal with it after consultations with all stake-holders, suggesting that the lack of a policy to tackle the problem made the country seem unable to deal with the problem abroad.

He, however, ruled out the possibility of the court intervening in the matter. The top court can only act as a catalyst, he seemed to suggest. This hands-off governance line is in keeping with Justice Thakur's stated policy on not interfering in policy matters.

The CJI said that he was embarrassed and at a loss to explain the alarming pollution levels in the city when the ICJ chief justice came visiting recently. Prague and Amsterdam have zero pollution and Delhi is one of the most polluted cities, he observed.

"Absence of a policy us reflecting on our ability to deal with the problem abroad," he said. He expressed his support for the Kejriwal government's odd-even policy of plying vehicles in the city on alternate ways, but again said that there can be no single solution to the problem.

"There has to be a multi-pronged strategy," he said. He also sought to know if the Kejriwal government and Central government were on the same page on the issue. "There doesn’t appear to be a meeting point or consensus on a problem which affects everybody," he said.

"This is a serious matter. It is earning Delhi a bad name internationally," he said. "The government must consult all stake-holders and prepare a common acceptable programme," he said.

He negated the possibility of any direct court intervention to deal with the crisis which is threatening to overwhelm Delhi.

"It is not possible for us to give a solution to all problems. The government has to consult all stakeholders and come out with a plan. There has to be some brain-storming to come up with short term and long term solutions. Then we can enter later."

The CJI confirmed that the court administration was verifying data provided by the CSE on the pollution levels inside the court complex with the CPCB. Amicus curiae before the top court green bench, Harish N Salve, on whose application the court had earlier imposed an environment cess on trucks entering Delhi to avoid higher highway tolls, said that the pollution was not attributable to any single cause.

Vehicular traffic was one of the causes he said. He also suggested a similar cess on diesel vehicles which he said was highly polluting or a possible halt to registration of diesel vehicles in future. Diesel is 40% cheaper than petrol. This subsidy was not intended to be availed by private vehicles, he argued.

This is a huge incentive for people to buy them, he said, suggesting that the government slap some disincentives on diesel vehicles to make them costlier.
He accused the Ministry of Finance of not accepting a suggestion to this effect made by the court created EPCA which is now a statutory body under the MOEF.

Senior advocate and ASG Pinky Anand, however, opposed any such ban saying diesel hadn't been banned anywhere in the world. She instead suggested that all diesel vehicles should be made Bharat IV compliant.

Salve also pressed the court to stop all vehicles not bringing in fresh supplies to Delhi from entering the city. The cess, he said, had caused a 30% fall in the number of commercial trucks entering Delhi. But there is a crises now in the city as the pollution had doubled in one year, he said.

"The pollution levels have gone up exponentially," he said. At least 60,000 trucks enter Delhi daily of which less than 30,000 come in with supplies intended for Delhi, he said.

The court listed the case on Tuesday when it will examine any plans submitted by the Delhi and central governments on tackling the problem urgently.