The Supreme Court said Friday that it will examine on November 25 whether or not to continue with emergency measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to deal with air pollution in Delhi.
A bench of Justices A S Oka and A G Masih also expressed displeasure that despite its order and directions given by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), “there is a failure on the part of the Delhi government and police machinery of the state to implement clauses 1 and 2 of stage 4” regarding the entry of polluting vehicles into the National Capital.
Appearing for CAQM, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati urged the court to permit it to relax GRAP 4 measures. “Please allow us to bring it down to GRAP 3. GRAP 4 is a complete disruption… Yesterday and today, we have come to the GRAP 2 stage. But because of your directions, the GRAP 4 restrictions are continuing”.
Senior Advocate Aparajitha Singh, who is the Amicus Curiae in the case, agreed that it was disruptive and said “that’s why GRAP 4 is emergency.”
Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, representing some parents, sought to highlight the consequences of closing down schools on working classes or parents of children with special needs. “The assumption behind school closure is that our homes and the air in our homes are cleaner. We neither have purifiers nor do we have devices, laptops, smartphones to join online classes. This happened to us during the lockdown also where many of our children then left the schooling system permanently,” she submitted.
Responding, Justice Oka said, “We ourselves are saying the consequences of GRAP 4 are very drastic. It can affect various sections of society very badly. Except lawyers, everyone else will be affected… Monday we will examine whether it needs to be reviewed,” the bench said while hearing a batch of matters dealing with air pollution in the national capital. He added that the court will review next week whether GRAP 4 should continue or be relaxed.
On the last date of hearing, the court had directed that GRAP 4 should remain in place till it directs otherwise.
