The Supreme Court has asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to identify all major sources of pollution in two weeks and suggest long-term sectoral action plans to tackle each of them in a phased manner.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi yesterday said CAQM should bring all domain experts under one roof, hold deliberations and come out with long-term solutions, which would be implemented in phased manner so as not to hurt livelihoods, industry and the public. It said, pollution control failed because the court considered many expert views that pointed in different directions, instead of following a clear, unified plan.
The additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati’s request for two-month time to CAQM for this purpose drew a sharp reaction from the bench. But the court gave two more weeks to CAQM and sought the action plan by 21st of this month.
The court said, unfortunately CAQM’s status report is silent on several issues flagged by the court during the last hearing.
