SC refuses to relax GRAP-4 restrictions unless AQI shows ‘downward trend’

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to relax emergency measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) dealing with air pollution in the national capital till it noticed a downward trend in the Air Quality Index (AQI) level.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih further sought the presence of the chief secretaries of NCR states to appear through video-conferencing to inform it whether or not any compensation was paid to the construction workers who were without work owing to the restrictions.

Notably, there has to be a downward trend before the Supreme Court relaxes GRAP-4 restrictions.

The bench said the chief secretaries of NCR states, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, will have to appear through video-conferencing at 3.30 pm on December 5.

“There is hardly any implementation of Stage 4 of GRAP to deal with air pollution in the national capital,” remarked the bench, questioning the Delhi government on the number of officers deployed by it to implement the restrictions, especially banning trucks from entering the national capital.

The Delhi government, represented by senior advocate Shadan Farasat, said it would look into allegations of non-compliance of the GRAP restrictions.

However, Farasat asserted on the basis of two-three incidents it couldn’t be said that the entire city of 1.5 crore population was not complying with the restrictions.

The hearing is underway.