Delhi Pollution: Supreme Court orders suspension of physical classes in NCR for all students

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that physical classes for all school students up to grade 12 in Delhi should be suspended for the time being in light of the acute air pollution that has gripped the national capital [In Re: Commission for Air Quality Management]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih passed the order on insistence by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who pointed out that students of classes 10 and 12 were being made to attend classes physically."Notwithstanding what is provided in clause 5 of Stage IV of the GRAP, the Delhi Government and the NCR State Governments will take an immediate call on stopping physical classes of all standards up to the twelfth standard," the Court directed.The Bench also called for strict implementation of Stage IV measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) as Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) remains in the "severe" category. The Court criticised the delay in implementing GRAP stages III and IV, stating that the Commission for Air Quality Management's (CAQM) approach of waiting for AQI levels to improve before taking action contravened the Court's 2018 order, which mandated preventive measures."From the submissions made across the Bar and from the minutes of the meeting dated 13th November, 2024, we find that the approach adopted by the Sub-Committee of the Commission is contrary to what is observed by this Court in paragraph 3 of the order dated 29th October, 2018 whereby a direction was issued to EPCA (the predecessor of the Commission) to take pre-emptive steps under the GRAP without strict adherence to the pollution stages delineated in the plan. The approach adopted by the Commission seems to be that it waited for improvement of the AQI and, therefore, the implementation of Stages III and IV of the GRAP was delayed. This is an entirely wrong approach. In anticipation of the AQI crossing the threshold limit, it is the duty of the Commission to start immediate implementation of Stages III and IV of the GRAP, as the case may be. The Commission cannot wait for the improvement of the AQI," the Court said..The Court directed all governments of the National Capital Region (NCR) area to strictly implement stage IV of GRAP. It also ordered the formation of monitoring teams for monitoring actions which are required under stage IV.It further clarified that until further orders, Stage IV will continue even if AQI falls below 450.The Central and all State governments were directed to file compliance affidavits by Thursday, November 21..The top court listed the matter for further hearing on November 22 when it will examine compliance with its order."List the Petition at the end of the cause list on 22nd November, 2024 for considering the compliance with today's directions. The constitutional obligation of the Central Government and the State Governments is to ensure that the citizens live in a pollution-free atmosphere. Therefore, in addition to the actions proposed under Stages III and IV of the GRAP, all possible actions shall be taken at the level of the State Governments to ensure that the AQI is brought down," it said in its order..Punjab, Haryana not taking penal action against stubble burning; air quality panel silent: Supreme Court .The Bench was hearing the case concerning pollution in Delhi and specifically examining the action taken by authorities across Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to curb stubble burning incidents.Stubble burning refers to the practice of farmers setting fire to straw stubble which remains in fields after the harvest of grains like wheat and paddy.The stubble is burnt to prepare the fields for the next set of crops. It is the easiest and cheapest way to clear the fields, but leads to a drastic dip in air quality.Even as Delhi reportedly recorded the world's worst air quality index (AQI), the Supreme Court was on November 14 told that the national capital should not become the most polluted city in the world.Earlier today, the Bench said that it is contemplating passing an order to ensure that the Graded Response Action Plan IV (GRAP IV) is in force even if the air quality index (AQI) improves and goes below 300..In an earlier hearing, lamenting the authorities' failure to curb the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali this year, the Court had said that the right to live in a pollution-free environment is a fundamental right of every citizen under Article 21.It had asked the Delhi government and the Delhi Police on how the ban on firecrackers to curb pollution was flouted during Diwali celebrations in the national capital.Pertinently, it had asked the Delhi government to consider implementing a perpetual firecracker ban..In September, the Court had pulled up the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for failing to take adequate steps to curb pollution..[Read order]