Central panel has failed to find solutions, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for groping in the dark for a solution to control air pollution in the national capital region, lamenting whether it wants people to die before devising any strategy. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.K. Sikri and S.A. Bobde, while expressing concern over the growing menace, told solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar that the court was not impressed by the measures taken so far. Ranjit Kumar said that though several orders had been passed by the apex court, the Delhi high court and the National Green Tribunal, there is laxity on the part of the implementing agencies. On November 8, the court had asked the solicitor-general that the government should come out with an action plan in 48 hours. The court pointed out that no such measures had been put in place.

The CJI asked the chairman of the CPCB, “Is there an action plan how to control the air quality index when it goes up. Why you want to wait till people start dying. Courts are passing orders, newspapers are writing, the NGT is passing order, yet you don’t even feel the need to plan a strategy .”