The Delhi Government will know on Monday whether it’s experimental Odd-Even scheme will be given the green light by the Delhi High Court..A Division Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Jayant Nath J. today reserved orders over multiple petitions, including one petition filed by Delhi High Court Bar Association President Rajeev Khosla, challenging the State government’s scheme to reduce vehicular pollution..Senior Advocate Harish Salve was at the helm of affairs, arguing for the extension of the Scheme. Representing the Delhi government, Salve said that scheme had resulted in a ‘definitely positive affect in the air quality.’.Relying on a report prepared by Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) Salve further submitted,.“The whole issue [Odd-Even Scheme] has been portrayed in an unfortunate manner. We have to understand the problem that we are dealing with. In December 2014 we had 65% days with severe pollution which has increased to 67% in December 2015. It is a grim scenario. The first few days of the Scheme have already demonstrated that peak pollution levels are lower than the normal smog peaks of the season despite the adverse weather conditions.”.Commenting further on the efficacy of the Scheme Salve added,.“Emissions from vehicles caught in the congestion increase two times due to idling and frequent acceleration and deceleration. The Odd-Even Scheme is designed to provide immediate relief. Pollution is not going to go away immediately. This is only a short-term method to taper it down. There have to be other long term measures that will have to be carried out in tandem with this.”.After arguing that the Scheme ought to continue even beyond 15 days because the particulate and nitrogen oxide load from cars had come down by as much as 40%, Salve highlighted other efforts such as increasing the fleet of buses for which parking spaces were required..Salve, flanked by Delhi’s Transport Minister Gopal Rai and environmental activist Sunita Narain in a packed courtroom, made submissions on multiple grounds..Meanwhile, the petitioners including Khosla, stuck to their guns while arguing that though the Scheme may be for the welfare of all, it was also causing great inconvenience to the public..One of the Petitioners argued that the pollution data presented by the Delhi Government was very different from the actual statistics..“Today morning’s data from the DPCC website is entirely different from their report. Moreover, if you look into vehicular pollution, 46% is caused by trucks while 33% is caused by motor-vehicles so the Scheme does not bring any significant change to the situation.”.After hearing submissions made by both sides, the Bench said that it will pronounce its order on Monday..It will be interesting to see what the Delhi High Court has to say about an issue which has caught the fancy of everyone in the country.
The Delhi Government will know on Monday whether it’s experimental Odd-Even scheme will be given the green light by the Delhi High Court..A Division Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Jayant Nath J. today reserved orders over multiple petitions, including one petition filed by Delhi High Court Bar Association President Rajeev Khosla, challenging the State government’s scheme to reduce vehicular pollution..Senior Advocate Harish Salve was at the helm of affairs, arguing for the extension of the Scheme. Representing the Delhi government, Salve said that scheme had resulted in a ‘definitely positive affect in the air quality.’.Relying on a report prepared by Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) Salve further submitted,.“The whole issue [Odd-Even Scheme] has been portrayed in an unfortunate manner. We have to understand the problem that we are dealing with. In December 2014 we had 65% days with severe pollution which has increased to 67% in December 2015. It is a grim scenario. The first few days of the Scheme have already demonstrated that peak pollution levels are lower than the normal smog peaks of the season despite the adverse weather conditions.”.Commenting further on the efficacy of the Scheme Salve added,.“Emissions from vehicles caught in the congestion increase two times due to idling and frequent acceleration and deceleration. The Odd-Even Scheme is designed to provide immediate relief. Pollution is not going to go away immediately. This is only a short-term method to taper it down. There have to be other long term measures that will have to be carried out in tandem with this.”.After arguing that the Scheme ought to continue even beyond 15 days because the particulate and nitrogen oxide load from cars had come down by as much as 40%, Salve highlighted other efforts such as increasing the fleet of buses for which parking spaces were required..Salve, flanked by Delhi’s Transport Minister Gopal Rai and environmental activist Sunita Narain in a packed courtroom, made submissions on multiple grounds..Meanwhile, the petitioners including Khosla, stuck to their guns while arguing that though the Scheme may be for the welfare of all, it was also causing great inconvenience to the public..One of the Petitioners argued that the pollution data presented by the Delhi Government was very different from the actual statistics..“Today morning’s data from the DPCC website is entirely different from their report. Moreover, if you look into vehicular pollution, 46% is caused by trucks while 33% is caused by motor-vehicles so the Scheme does not bring any significant change to the situation.”.After hearing submissions made by both sides, the Bench said that it will pronounce its order on Monday..It will be interesting to see what the Delhi High Court has to say about an issue which has caught the fancy of everyone in the country.
