New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked why the applicability of third step of GRAP was delayed for three days when the AQI level crossed 300 and said that without its permission, the stage 4 of GRAP will not be removed and will continue to operate even if the AQI goes below 450.
“We are making it very clear that you will not go below stage 4 (GRAP) without our permission even if AQI goes below 300,” a bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said while hearing a plea on the severe air pollution in the national capital and seeking enforcement of measure to check it.
The bench, at the outset of hearing, asked the Centre and Delhi Government what steps were taken to deal with the prevailing severe air pollution.
The bench was informed that stage 3 of GRAP was implemented earlier and now stage 4 has been invoked with effect from today.
Why implementation of GRAP 3 was delayed by three days, apex court asked
The apex court asked the Centre and the Delhi Government that why the implementation of GRAP 3 was delayed by three days.
Severe air quality issue was mentioned before court last week for urgent hearing
The apex court had on November 14 agreed to hear the air pollution matter today after senior advocate Aprajita Singh, who has been appointed in the matter as amicus curiae, had mentioned the matter before the bench seeking urgent hearing of the matter in view of the prevailing situation in the national capital.
“Since yesterday we have been in severe mode. Just to avoid this situation, this court has asked them to take pre-emptive action. They have not done anything. We should not become the most polluted city in the world,” Singh had told the bench and had added that she had intimated about it to the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) and it should explain about the steps being taken to check pollution.
Apex court earlier expressed its serious concern on high pollution levels
The apex court had earlier expressed its serious concerns on high pollution levels in the national capital during the Diwali festival and had taken exception to violation of court orders on firecrackers ban, saying that the ban was “hardly implemented”.
