Aathira Perinchery 
New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Supreme Court on October 23 reacted strongly to the air quality in New Delhi which has worsened over the past week, slipping from the ‘Poor’ to ‘Very Poor’ category. It came down heavily on the union government and governments of Punjab and Haryana for inaction and the imposition of paltry penalties for stubble burning, respectively.
The court said that an amendment to the Environment Protection Act (1986) in 2023 – which provides for imposing penalties on individuals who go against the Act (in this case, farmers who are burning stubble) – has made the legislation “toothless” because there is no adjudicating officer to enforce this provision. It said that it would take the union government to task for this.
The court also noted that the Punjab government was imposing only nominal fines on farmers who were burning stubble.
Delhi’s deteriorating air quality
New Delhi’s air quality has witnessed a huge dip over the last fortnight.
On October 14, the Air Quality Index (AQI) as measured by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in Delhi was 235, dipping to the ‘Poor’ category. An AQI between 200 and 300 is categorised as being ‘Poor’, as prolonged exposure to such air quality levels will cause discomfort to most people in the area and not just people with respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
On the same day, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) ordered that all 27 actions as part of Stage 1 measures be implemented under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This included intensifying the use of anti-smog guns, water sprinkling and dust suppression measures in road construction, widening or repair projects and maintenance activities; enforcing the ban on firecrackers and making sure that hotels, restaurants and open eateries use only electricity, gas-based or other clean fuel for appliances.
Air quality in the city got worse in the following days. On October 21, the AQI was 310: in the ‘Very Poor’ category. Prolonged exposure to such poor air quality can result in respiratory illnesses to people in the region. So on the same day, the CAQM ordered the implantation of Stage II emergency measures to reduce air pollution in the National Capital Region (such as increasing parking fees to dissuade people from using private transport), along with Stage I measures.
The AQI in Delhi as of 4 pm on October 23 was 364 as per data released by the CPCB, and measured based on levels of particulate matter (both PM10 and fine particulate matter or PM2.5) as logged by 31 of the 40 automatic weather stations in the area. This is still in the ‘Very Poor’ category, but increasingly closer to 400 which will then switch to the ‘Severe’ category. Prolonged exposure to such air quality will affect healthy people and cause serious impacts to people who are already struggling with respiratory and other illnesses.
Nominal fines, cherry-picking prosecutions
On October 23, Wednesday, a bench of judges of the Supreme Court (Justices Abhay S. Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih) came down heavily on both the Union government and the state governments of Punjab and Haryana. It had called on the chief secretaries of both states to give their submissions on the issue of stubble burning and actions taken to curb it.
Also read: Can Either the SC’s Anger or the Govt’s Winter Action Plan Save Delhi From Another Toxic Winter?
With the rice harvesting season in these states coming to a close, stubble burning – the process of farmers setting fire to the stubble remaining in their fields after harvest to prepare for the next cropping season – is slowly seeing a rise. For instance, as per a report by The Hindu, a bulletin of the CREAMS-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) recorded 872 fires in Punjab between September 15 and October 13, while it reported only 300 fires from September 15 to October 7. That’s a jump of more than 500 fires in less than a week. Several studies have shown that stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana are responsible for Delhi’s bad air quality during this season. As per a report released by research and communication consulting organisation Climate Trends on October 22, the number of stubble fires has decreased in these states from 2019 to 2023; the years of 2022 and 2023 showed “substantial reductions” in fire numbers across several districts in these two states. It also found that fire incidents in the two states had a huge impact on Delhi’s air quality. On days that did not witness fires in these states during the stubble burning season, Delhi’s AQI remained in the ‘Moderate’ category. However, it dipped to the Poor and Very Poor categories on days that witnessed fires.
On October 23, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Punjab state government because it was imposing only nominal fees (of Rs. 2,500) on farmers burning stubble in their fields.
“Giving license to violate by paying such nominal amount. That’s incredible…We will tell you very frankly that you are giving signal to violators that nothing will be done against them. This has been for the past three years,” Bar and Bench quoted the Supreme Court judges as saying.
The bench also noted that the Punjab and Haryana governments were “cherry-picking” individuals for prosecution. Per the Bar and Bench report, the court directed the Union government to amend the law “to increase the environment compensation cess levied on farmers who indulge in stubble burning and officials who fail to act on the same”.
‘Everybody been made a fool’
The bench said that an amendment to the Environment Protection Act (1986) in 2023 – which provides for imposing penalties on individuals who go against the Act (in this case, farmers who are burning stubble) versus penal provisions previously – has made the legislation “toothless”. The court said that this was because there is no adjudicating officer to enforce this provision: it would take the union government to task for this, the court added.
“We will take Union of India to task as they submit that Section 15 which provides for penalty has been amended. You don’t have the adjudicating officer to enforce it. The Environmental Protection Act, 1986 has been made toothless,” the Bench said.
“If these governments and you were seriously ready to safeguard environment then everything would have been done before amendment to Section 15. This is all political nothing else,” Bar and Bench quoted Justice Oka as saying.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CAQM and the Union government, said in reply that the rules for the proper implementation of Section 15 would be made applicable in 10 days.
“Also on a lighter vein, Central Government amends Section 15 of the 1986 Act without formulating any area of enforcing the same, no adjudicating officer. The amendment has been done that too on 1st April, everybody has been made fool. ASG, please ensure Section 15 has to be made applicable in letter and spirit,” Bar and Bench quoted Justice Oka as saying.
“Time has come to remind the Union, and both the States, that there is a fundamental right subsisting with the citizen to live in a pollution free environment. These are matters of blatant violation of fundamental rights under Article 21,” the bench noted.