Supreme Court declines urgent hearing in PIL to ban stubble burning

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant urgent hearing in a plea seeking complete ban on stubble burning in order to combat the air pollution in Delhi and other north Indian States.

The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud but the CJI said that these are not issues strictly falling under the purview of judiciary.

"So will the ban help it? Some matters courts can look into and some it cannot since they are not judicially amenable," the CJI remarked.

He, therefore, refused to list the matter on priority.

"We have heard you and it wont be taken up now," he said.

The air quality in the national capital has been a matter of concern for many years now. The air quality index, which gives a measure of the quality of air, rises to dangerously high levels during the months of October, November etc in Delhi and surrounding States.

It is during Octiber-November that many farmers in north Indian States burn straw stubble that remains after harvesting crops.

Due to the peculiar wind and soil conditions during these months, the stubble burning is claimed to be a major contributor to the dip in quality.

The Supreme Court had last week agreed to hear a petition seeking the court's urgent intervention in checking the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi.

The plea was mentioned before a bench of then CJI UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi by a petitioner appearing in person claiming that "Delhi was choking".

While the bench expressed its apprehension on hearing the case, asking the petitioner if a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution was the right means, the court agreed to list the matter on November 10, 2022.