[Delhi Air Pollution case] LIVE UPDATES from the Supreme Court

A special bench of the Supreme Court will continue hearing the petition by 17-year-old Delhi student Aditya Dubey concerning rising levels of air pollution in the Capital.During the previous hearing, the Court had pointed out the bureaucracy's failure to take measures to curb the air pollution that has engulfed Delhi and surrounding areas.Pursuant to the Court’s order, Delhi and neighbouring states have filed compliance reports. A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant will hear the plea.Live updates from the hearing below..Senior Advocate Vikas Singh: Business Standard did a story that due to elections in Punjab no fines are being imposed on farmers for stubble burning.CJI Ramana: We are not concerned. We are only concerned with pollution..Justice Chandrachud: We cannot really micromanage such things and say what fines have to be imposed etc. Sr. Adv. Singh: Incentive which was to be given to farmers have not been given, that is why stubble is burnt..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta: After last ordersCJI Ramana: You said weather will improve.. Solicitor General: November 16 it was 403 and now it is 260. CJI Ramana: Wind will come to zero by evening..Justice Chandrachud: They call it an act of God.CJI Ramana: We cannot go by wind direction etc., tell us about the steps..CJI Ramana: Some more IAs have been filed by labour organisations and contractors saying ban has to be lifted.Solicitor General: The construction ban is not extended now due to changed scenario..CJI Ramana: There are IAs saying that they are farmers and due to despite my resources they are going to burn stubble despite the effect on health for them. Then are IAs to restart the construction activities. Third IA is by contractor council of India and they want govardhan model..Solicitor General: I don't have these copies.CJI Ramana: Then is an IA where a lawyer will advise us how to pass orders. Solicitor General: Actions we have taken so far is ready and is prepared overnight. I don't have an affidavit.CJI Ramana: Please give it to me..Solicitor General: On Industrial pollution, thermal power station continues to be closed. All construction and demolition to be stopped in NCR till November 21 and it is not extended in view of improved scenario.CJI Ramana: What is the other option for thermal station? Its coal only..Justice Chandrachud: Industrial ban is lifted or continues?Solicitor General: It continues till November 30. Only construction activities ban does not continue..CJI Ramana: Schools are open now? Solicitor General: No no, they are closed. All educational institutions are closed.Sr. Adv. Singh: Delhi government will take the decision today..Solicitor General: Based on feedback from states an action taken report has been prepared. It is attached as an annexure, AQI trend is also annexed.CJI Ramana: Met Department can predict the future air quality.Solicitor General: At least for three days they can..Solicitor General: The trend is downwards, My Lord..Solicitor General: All other direction by commission is still in force. In compliance with observations of this court on November 17 regarding travel of central government employees, special bus service has been made operation from various locations to CGO complex. Each location being seen by DM..Solicitor General: Number of construction sites closed were 578 and non-compliant was 262 in these 5 days.CJI Ramana: So, all sites are working now?.Solicitor General: Dust management directions continue. Road and open area dust management.. anti-smog guns installed are 250, mechanized road sweeping machines are 133 and this needs to be enhanced. Water sprinklers are 1007 as of now..CJI Ramana: How many people travel in those central government employee buses?.Justice Chandrachud: We are not on measures. What is done now is ad-hoc. The commission under the act has to conduct a scientific study, so 7 days data can be there. There has to be a model to see that if measures are taken with wind pattern then this will be reduction in pollution..Justice Chandrachud: Suddenly when pollution comes you start sprinkling water will not help. If you have a statistical model, then there will be a graded response. It has to be science based. Solicitor General: These are immediate steps..Solicitor General: That is why we have come out with a graded response plan for Delhi and the adjoining states. Please look at the plan..CJI Ramana: There is a lot of expectations that Court is not doing and government is doing and pollution will come down, some paper said that due to measures of court 40% pollution has come down, we don't know if its correct or not..CJI Ramana: To some extent it may have, now labourer's say they are starving and farmers will seek permission to burn stubble..CJI Ramana: Ultimately, what will you do say it and we can add to it. Now you will review after three days and by the time levels.. Solicitor General: That is being monitored everyday....CJI Ramana: These restrictions have to come into play automatically.Solicitor General: Please allow me to show the graded response plan. There is a self-contained and self-operating..Solicitor General reads the graded response plan.Justice Chandrachud: When the weather becomes severe, then we take measures. We take measures when the weather becomes severe. These measures have to be taken in anticipation. This anticipation has to be based on a statistical model..Justice Chandrachud: This is the national capital. Look at the signal we are sending to the world. You can stop these activities in anticipation itself so the severe grade does not even become..Solicitor General: That is why we close thermal and hot mix plants. We take steps as soon as we are in severe, so that we don't enter severe plus. Similarly, there is very poor category when DG sets are stopped and buses ply increase..Justice Chandrachud: We have to define what is the acceptable level of AQI for Delhi. Expected wind direction will also have wind direction for the last 20 years. There was no computer then and now there are super computers. There needs to be a statistical model..CJI Ramana: We will dispose it off and we will not close it down. We will give final orders or directions. So long as seriousness is there, we have to hear this matter almost everyday. We just saw the AQI on phone, it is 318 now and 290 may not be correct. No substantial change with wind..CJI Ramana: Take the measures for the next two-three days and we will again hear this matter next Monday. In the meantime, if pollution becomes 100 etc., then you can lift some ban. In building where some internal work like electricity etc., is not allowed that can go on..CJI Ramana: We will be allowing interiors as on today.Sr. Adv. Singh: Construction is allowed as of now..Advocate Shyel Trehan for construction workers: Can the construction workers fund be used as long as workers are out of work? CJI Ramana: We will come to that. How much money is there in labour welfare fund? Its thousands of crores, you pay the workers from that.Trehan: There was 2,700 crores this year..Solicitor General: Figure is much more than that. CJI Ramana: Let funds be paid from that. Let the steps continue and we will hear on Monday.Solicitor General: Let the concerned Ministry decide..Dr. AM Singhvi: 1000 additional CNG buses will be installed in the state of Delhi.Sr. Adv. Singh: Farmers need to be compensated and only by that way farm fires will reduce..CJI Ramana: Is there any study to show how much stubble has been removed from Punjab, UP, Haryana? What emission methods have been adopted?.CJI Ramana: Why cannot the state governments examine this issue? Justice Surya Kant: If govardhan model is adopted so that stubble from UP, Haryana, Punjab is sent to states where there is scarcity of cow fodder..Sr. Adv. Singh: I am a farmer myself. Manual labour cuts from ground.. but mechanized cuts from middle, thus its burnt from root later.CJI Ramana: Because of scarcity of farm labours, farmers adopt mechanical harvesters. This will become a big problem all across India..CJI Ramana: The issue of tackling the stubble of 6 inches in an issue.Sr. Adv. Singh: There are stubble removing machines which farmers cannot afford.Solicitor General: No, the small and marginal famers get it for free..CJI Ramana: As a government lawyer and we judges are discussing this. What is the bureaucracy doing? They can go on field, talk to farmers and take a decision. Involve scientists. Why can't this happen?.Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan: Due to certain farm laws in Punjab, farmers are forced to cut the stubble in the narrow 15 day period.CJI Ramana: We are on pollution now and let us see this on Monday.Solicitor General: Steps by central commission is on board. CJI Ramana: We are on immediate measures.

[Delhi Air Pollution case] LIVE UPDATES from the Supreme Court

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