Delhi pollution: Supreme Court appoints 13 lawyers to inspect ban on truck entry

The Supreme Court on Friday appointed thirteen lawyers as advocate commissioners to examine whether its earlier directives to restrict the entry of trucks from neighbouring areas into Delhi amid the capital's pollution crisis is being properly enforced [In Re: Commission for Air Quality Management].

A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih passed the order while hearing the case concerning the Delhi air pollution crisis.

"Out of 113 entry points, at almost 100, there is no one to stop the entry of prohibited vehicles. We requested the members of the Bar to come forward and act as the Court Commissioners. We are happy to note that 13 young members of the Bar who are present today have volunteered to act as the Commissioners of this Court. We appoint them as the Court Commissioners," the Court observed.

The thirteen lawyers who volunteered to act as the Commissioners are:

1. Pratyush Jain

2. Aditya N Prasad

3. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala

4. Manisha Chava

5. Abhinav Aggarwal

6. Shrishti Mishra

7. Manan Verma

8. Jatin Kumar

9. Mohit Siwach

10. Abhishk Budhiraja

11. Pranav Dhawan

12. Savi Nagpal

13. Sumit Kumar

The Court today expressed concern over whether adequate checks have been put in place to restrict the entry of diesel/ polluting trucks from neighbouring areas into Delhi.

The Court was told that there are 113 entry points, but only 13 check points have strict vigil.

The Court proceeded to appoint 13 lawyers who volunteered to act as advocate commissioners to go check these 13 points and see if the restrictions on entry of trucks are actually being enforced.

"Their job would be to ascertain that clauses (a) and (b) of STAGE IV (of the Graded Response Act Plan) are being implemented at those entry points or not. They will be allowed to take photographs and submit a detailed report by tomorrow. This aspect of the matter will be taken on Monday," the Court said.

The Court also ordered that the CCTV footage at these entry points, from April 18 onwards, be handed over to the advocate commissioners.

The Court added that the Delhi government must take measures to monitor all entry points, and not just the 13 entry points where strict vigil measures are presently stated to be in place.

"Amicus has stated that there are 113 entry points but counsel for Delhi government states that vigil is maintained primarily on at 13 major entry points for ensuring compliance with STAGE IV of GRAP. This means that for other 100 points there is no restriction on vehicles, which is banned under STAGE IV. We direct Delhi Government and Delhi Police to ensure that checkpost are immediately set up at all 113 entry points. The personnel who are going to manned the entry points must be clearly informed about the accepted items which counsel for Delhi Government has highlighted as essential commodities," the Court said.

The Bench was hearing the case concerning pollution in Delhi and including action taken by authorities in the adjoining States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to curb stubble-burning incidents which is said to be a major reason for the air pollution.

The Bench had recently called for strict implementation of Stage IV measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to combat the pollution crisis and even ordered the closure of physical classes for school students in Delhi.

In an earlier hearing, the Court had lamented the authorities' failure to curb the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali this year despite the government's temporary ban. Pertinently, it also asked the Delhi government to consider implementing a perpetual firecracker ban.

In September, the Court pulled up the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for failing to take adequate steps to curb pollution.

[Read Order]

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