NCR air improves a bit, but SC refuses to relax GRAP-IV norms

Even as the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi-NCR marginally improved to ‘poor’ category, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to relax the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) IV restrictions.

While hearing about violations of GRAP-IV measures and safety of lawyers working as court commissioners to oversee monitoring of compliance, a Bench, led by Justice AS Oka, made it clear that the GRAP-IV measures will remain in effect until a consistent downward trend in the AQI was observed.

After perusing reports submitted by court commissioners, the Bench – which also included Justice AG Masih – said it would take a call on relaxations proposed by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on December 5 if the AQI data showed a consistent downward trend.

In Delhi, the 24-hour average AQI stood at 280 at 4 pm on Monday, an improvement of five points in comparison to the previous day. Pulling up the authorities for the poor implementation of GRAP-IV measures, the top court directed the CAQM to hold a meeting and provide suggestions regarding transition from GRAP-IV to GRAP-III or GRAP-II. It was not necessary to dispense with all GRAP-IV measures and that a combination of measures from GRAP-IV and GRAP-III could be put in place, the Bench said. It asked states to file affidavits showing compliance with its directions.

As some of the court commissioners complained of threat, the top court directed the Delhi Police to provide armed protection to those who wished to continue as court commissioners to monitor implementation of GRAP IV measures.

The direction to the Delhi Police came after court commissioners and advocates Aditya Prasad, Savi Nagpal, Jatin Kumar and Manan Verma said that toll officials were sharing live updates on WhatsApp groups regarding the movement of court commissioners.

Noting that it’s the constitutional duty of all states to ensure that citizens lived in a pollution-free environment, the Supreme Court had on November 18 directed the Delhi-NCR states to immediately constitute teams to enforce GRAP-IV restrictions.

‘Allowance for labourers’

Expressing anguish at NCR states’ failure to pay subsistence allowance to labourers who are out of work due to the ban on construction activities in NCR, the Bench asked chief secretaries of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to appear before it through video-conferencing at 3.30 pm on December 5.