The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to come out with a mechanism to prevent adulteration of petrol and diesel with kerosene.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to come out with a mechanism to prevent adulteration of petrol and diesel with kerosene.
Hearing a PIL seeking steps to curb adulteration, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur suggested the Centre to install sensors in the vending machines at petrol/diesel pumps to detect adulteration and make the machines non-functional if there was any kerosene content.
The bench pointed out that adulteration of motor fuel is rampant in the country and asked the Union petroleum ministry to submit details of the existing mechanism within four weeks to check the menace in addition to a status report on the steps taken so far. The bench of Justices A.M Khanwilkar and D.Y Chandrachud also asked the Centre to appoint a joint secretary-level officer to conduct an inquiry on a complaint by PIL petitioner and former BSP MP Seema Upadhyay that a ruling party politician in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh owned several ‘benami’ (unregistered) petrol pumps selling adulterated petrol and diesel.
The petitioner contended that big mafias are involved in the misuse of kerosene — meant for the poor — to adulterate petrol and diesel.
The nefarious activity has a multi-dimensional debilitating impact by way of denying the poor access to kerosene through the public distribution system (PDS); causing air pollution; damaging the vehicle engines and generating huge amounts of black money.
The bench pointed out that colouring the kerosene had not stopped its misuse as the vehicle owners did not get to see the colour of the fuel sold to them at the pumps. Diesel and petrol go directly into the vehicle tanks from the vending machines through non-transparent pipes.
The petitioner cited several media reports to drive home the point that organised gangs had resorted to bribe, coercion and murders to ensure that they went about with their criminal activities. She said that the problem had not been addressed by the government effectively despite the fact that she has raised the issue several times in the Parliament.
