Court On Its Own Motion (Air Pollution In Delhi) vs Union Of India & Ors

The serious deterioration of air quality in the Capital and the National Capital Region (NCR) is a matter of grave public concern and the steps taken

to improve air quality by various agencies, the subject matter of continuous oversight by this Court in this public interest litigation. During the course of

these proceedings it is established that one contributory major component to air pollution in Delhi during the months of October and March each year

is the burning of agricultural waste, including plant residue/stubble while harvesting the Kharif and Rabi crops (“stubble burningâ€). The statistics

made available and presented by the Pollution Control Board reveals that every ton of dry residue burnt generates 0.747 kg of PM 10 and 0.672 kg of

PM 2.5 particulates of which are disbursed in the air.

The affidavits filed by the States, disclose that14 million tons of paddy straw is burnt in the state of Punjab alone. The other States provided relative

figures separately. The emission of particulate matter from this stubble burning is beyond any acceptable human endurance, or “danger†levels.

The figures regarding particulate matter emissions for Haryana are equally large.

With a view to ensure elimination of the practice ofstubble-burning, this Court had called upon the NCR States and the State of Punjab to furnish

information relevant to this issue on affidavits. The States and the Union of India have since filed their respective affidavits. The steps taken, briefly

are summarized below:

a) Notifications under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 were issued by the individual State banning the burning of agricultural

waste â€" Punjab notification dated 22.10.2013, Haryana notification dated 16.09.2003 etc.

b) The States have set up Special Committees to prevent, monitor and control the burning of agricultural residue. District Collectors have been

empowered to initiate proceedings â€" including penal proceedings against defaulters.

c) The States, notably Rajasthan are in the process of setting up remote sensing systems to locate sites where such residue is burnt.

d) In November, 2014, the Government of India formulated the National Policy for Management of Crop Residue, 2014. On August, 2017, a draft

Action Plan for Biomass Management was prepared by the MoEF in consultation with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the NitiAayog. The

Union MoEF has formed a Committee on 17.08.2017.

This Court, on 18.07.2017, by its order issued the following directions to the concerned States and Union:

“10. The Court hereby requires the Union Secretaries, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Science and Technology

and of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare to explore the possibility of creating a fund for innovation in farming techniques in co-

ordination with such educational or technical institutions (IITs, etc) as are feasible (and practicable) in this regard, to innovate and develop

the most environment friendly practices, which are also energy efficient and suited to use by farmers. The three Secretaries shall hold a

meeting in this regard within three weeks. The Central Government may, if necessary, create a fund and a Task Force comprised of

appropriate personnel in this regard. A report of the meeting and proposals discussed indicating the way forward and the views of the

Central Government in this regard, shall be filed along with an affidavit [enclosing minutes of the meeting (s)] a week before the next date

of hearing.â€​

The Court had, on 18 September, 2017, heard the parties. The State of Rajasthan had indicated in its affidavit that extensive farmer education and

training programmes and sessions had been undertaken to sensitize against the ills of farm residue burning and that it had mooted a proposal for a pilot

project with the Central Government, to track such incidents through remote sensing. That proposal appears to be pending consideration. The

Unionâ€​s counsel had indicated that a committee on the lines suggested by the court had been constituted which had met and discussed the issue.

Considering the facts on record and the submission of the parties, and given that the Kharif crop is to be harvested, there is strong likelihood that

 the burning of agricultural residue will be resorted to, inthis season as well. The effects of such practice can again be traumatic for most people and

catastrophic for some.

In order to prevent and minimize burning of agriculture waste, it is directed as follows:

1) All the States shall implement the respective notifications and directions issued by them under the Air Pollution Act banning the burning of crop

residue/paddy straw strictly, in letter and in spirit.

2) Reports of the prosecutions launched/implementations for preventing burning of agricultural waste will be filed in this Court every week w.e.f.

01.10.2017.

3) The State Governments are to issue directions/orders to all the companies/plants including biomass plants, cement plants and power generation

plants and public undertakings involved in the manufacturing of boards and rough paper, to discharge their corporate social responsibility by collecting

the crop residue from the fields of farmers by providing them with money as consideration for lifting the agricultural residue. The implementation of

the aforesaid directions/order would not entail any cost or financial dependence of the States on the Central Government to prevent stubble burning

and consequential severe air pollution.

4) The authorities of each State will strictly implement the Graded Response Action Plan issued under the Notification dated 12.01.2017.

5) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will obtain weekly reports from the Special Committees established by each of these

States on the steps taken in the concerned States to prevent burning of agricultural waste/stubble.

6) The Union of India will monitor the sites where agricultural waste is found to have been burnt by satellite tracking for monitoring/study of weather,

i.e. update Satellite Imagery in terms of inputs from the Centre/Government/MoEF and Climate change.

7) It has been mentioned that in Punjab â€" specifically the District Collector, Sagrur; District Collector, Patiala; District Collector, Karnal; Chief

Secretary, Punjab; Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi; District Collector, Muzaffarnagar; Managing Director, NTPC; Secretary (S&T) and Joint

Secretary (MoNRE) will share their inputs and experiences on biomass management in their respective districts and sectors.

8) This initiative which is being followed in these districts can be immediately replicated in other districts in the other States.

9) The states concerned, especially those having locales where smog formation is most likely, are to inform members of the public, the protective

measures to be taken by them to safeguard their health. These measures include, but are not confined to weather, smog/smoke forecasts, wherever

particulate matter is likely to concentrate highest, any day, or during any part of any day, to appraise the populace and general public through

electronic mass media appeals and broadcasts, the other preventive measures to be taken, such as availability of gas masks, etc, when the

concentration levels are alarmingly high, making available such protective gear, in advance to those public personnel who are likely to be vulnerable,

such as police, watch and ward staff, workers exposed to the elements, etc.

These preventive measures are to be given effect to forthwith. All the States, the Govt. of NCT of Delhi and the Union of India, shall file brief

affidavits disclosing the measures taken to comply with the above order, before the next date of hearing.

The GNCTD; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; local bodies of Delhi â€" SDMC/NDMC/EDMC/NDMC/DCB and the

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) shall file the latest status report through separate affidavits with respect to the latest position, having

regard to the previous orders, with respect to the enhancement of capacity of waste-to-energy power plants; the provision for fresh site to

accommodate waste disposal through landfills etc. and the steps taken so far with respect to solid waste management and disposal.

List the cases for further directions on 16th October, 2017.

Order dasti to the learned counsel for the parties under the signatures of the Court Master.