The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging implementation of the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme in Delhi while raising questions on the maintainability of the petition.
“Under which section is the plea maintainable,” asked a Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel while dismissing the plea.
The observations came when the green panel was hearing a plea moved by advocate Gaurav Bansal who claimed that previous reports of the Central Pollution Control Board had stated that the vehicle rationing scheme had no impact on the ambient air quality in the Capital.
The petition was filed on Monday following Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s September 13 announcement on the fact that the odd-even policy will be rolled out in Delhi between November 4 and 15.
Mr. Kejriwal had said that the odd-even policy was part of a seven point action-plan that also included distribution of anti-pollution masks, mechanised sweeping and water sprinkling among other measures.
The plea had however stated that the scheme which was rolled out in the Capital twice before, in January and April 2016, had failed to improve the ambient air quality in the city. The plea was based on data provided by the CPCB and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), said the petitioner.
“The decision of the Delhi government to implement the odd-even policy in November 2019, ignoring the findings of two top-level institutes of the nation dealing with environmental pollution, has given a wrong message among the Indian scientist community and most of them are questioning the detailed scientific analysis study...” the plea had claimed.
