After calling pollution in Delhi “capital punishment,” the Delhi High Court on Friday summoned the Commissioners of the three municipal corporations, besides directing Member Secretary of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to be present before it on December 1.
Asking if anyone had been prosecuted for causing pollution in the NCR, the Bench of Justices B. D. Ahmed and Jayant Nath expressed dissatisfaction over the steps taken to curb the menace. The Bench summoned the officials after Amicus Curiae, senior advocate Kailash Vasudevan, informed it about the municipal corporations openly flouting waste management rules and the DPCC, too, turning a blind eye.
‘Why do we have rules?’
The court has now directed the DPCC to show how many people have been prosecuted since the Environment Protection Act was brought in. Hearing a PIL on the issue of alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi, the court had earlier directed the municipal corporations to extinguish all fires in landfill sites, besides keeping a check on construction activities. “Why do we have these rules? Why do we make them? The problem with India is implementation,” the Bench said while calling the situation “such a dismal state of affairs. Just rubbish and malba [debris] everywhere.”
Landfill sites
The DPCC, represented by advocate Sanjeev Ralli, said none of the landfill sites had come up with any authorisation, and that it cannot order their closure as it had not given permission to set them up.
‘Why do we have authorities?’
Further, the Bench said that if authorities like the municipal corporations and the Delhi Development Authority say they cannot do anything “then why should they be there? We will remove them”.
It was almost a year ago that the NGT had directed that anybody who sees a polluting vehicle or any pollution-causing activity can send a photograph and details to the DPCC on WhatsApp.
