Orders ignored: SC slams Punjab, Haryana

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the governments of Punjab and Haryana for not taking penal action against farmers indulging in stubble burning, which turns Delhi-NCR into a virtual gas chamber during October-December.

A Bench led by Justice AS Oka also slammed the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for failing to control stubble burning.

“Not a single prosecution has been initiated and the last meeting was only held on August 29. Only five of the 11 members were present and it did not discuss implementation of directions. This is how the sub-committees are functioning… They have held 11 meetings in nine months,” said the Bench, which also included Justices A Amanullah and AG Masih.

The top court lamented that the states had not done anything to implement its order and had only recovered nominal compensation from the farmers indulging in stubble burning. The first effective direction on the matter was issued on June 10, 2021, it pointed out. The CAQM had also not taken any steps to ensure that its own directions were implemented by the states, it said.

“For different reasons, they do not want to prosecute anybody…They do not want to take penal action but only hold meetings. All that the states have done is recover nominal compensation from farmers. The commission itself prima facie does not seem to be taking any efforts for follow-ups on implementation of its directions regarding enforcement,” the Bench said.

Directing the governments of Punjab and Haryana to file affidavits within a week on implementing the CAQM directions, the SC posted the case for further hearing on October 16. It also directed the commission to take firm steps to ensure implementation of its directions.

On behalf of the Punjab Government, Advocate General Gurminder Singh submitted that farmers were unable to use happy seeder machines as 70 per cent of them were marginal farmers who didn’t want to employ drivers and buy diesel for financial reasons.

The Bench also asked the Punjab Government to submit the proposals sent to the Centre for funds by the next date of hearing. As Singh submitted that states were not empowered to resort to penal action, the Bench said, “That’s wrong. Under the Environment Protection Act, you can…,”

“It is all in the air, nothing has been shown regarding what has been done in the NCR states,” the Bench said after ASG Aishwarya Bhati narrated the steps taken by the CAQM.

The Bench asked the Centre to explain why posts of two experts in the field of air pollution and those of two NGO members in the commission were vacant.

At the request of amicus curiae Aparajita Singh, the Bench asked the commission to give wider publicity to complaints of stubble burning.