THE DELHI High Court said on Monday that it cannot close its eyes to the fact that the air quality in the national capital is drifting between "very poor" and "severe."
A bench comprised of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed senior advocate Kailash Vasdev, who has been assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, to file a report on the issue within four weeks, along with recommendations for dealing with deforestation and measures for tree plantations in Delhi.
"For the last few weeks, we have been oscillating between 'severe' and 'very poor' categories of air quality… we can't close our eyes to the fact," Justice Prasad said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
"At the end of the day, we all live in Delhi. Can we close our eyes when we see so much construction specially in forest areas in violation of rules... Rampant construction has come up. Obviously, it has not come up overnight. People responsible for this definitely know about it. If no land is left in Delhi, where will you do the plantation?"
The judge's comments followed a submission from the counsel for the "Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas" that the organisation had developed a graded plan to address pollution that had been implemented this winter as well, when several activities were prohibited to lower pollution levels.
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Amicus, during the hearing, informed the court about the rampant deforestation in the national capital and the status of the forest where unauthorised construction has been going on.
According to the commission's "Policy to Reduce Air Pollution in the NCR," 28,81,145 saplings were planted in Delhi in 2021–2022; the goal for 2022–2023 is to plant 31,89,191 more.
The next hearing has been scheduled for February 1, 2023.