Supreme Court pulls up Punjab, Haryana for not acting against stubble-burning
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 from October-December.
A Bench led by Justice AS Oka also slammed the Commission for Air Quality Management for failing to control stubble-burning.
"Not a single prosecution has been initiated and the last meeting was held on August 29. Only five out of 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 Justice A Amanullah and AG Masih.
The top court lamented that the states have not done anything to implement its order and have only done something to recover nominal compensation from the farmers indulging in stubble-burning. The first effective direction on the issue was issued on June 10, 2021, it pointed out.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has also not taken any steps to ensure that its own directions are implemented by the States, it said.
"For different reasons, they do not want to prosecute anybody…The problem is as simple as that. They do not want to take penal action but only hold meetings. All that the states have done is recover nominal compensation from the farmers. The Commission itself prima facie does not seem to be taking any efforts for follow-ups on implementation of its directions regarding enforcement and safeguarding," the Bench said.
Directing the governments of Punjab and Haryana to file affidavits within a week on implementing the CAQM directions, the top court posted the case for 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 Environment Protection Act, you can…,"
“It is all in the air, nothing has been shown regarding what has been done in the National Capital Region (NCR) states,” the Bench said after ASG Aishwarya Bhati narrated the steps taken by the commission.
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 and also asked it to “satisfy” the court that the chairperson had the requisite qualifications. It indicated that it might appoint some experts in the commission by a judicial order.
At the request of amicus curiae Aparajita Singh, the Bench asked the commission to give wider publicity in newspapers and social media about citizens filing complaints of stubble-burning and air pollution.
