Delhi Air Pollution: Supreme Court To Consider GRAP 4 Continuation On Monday; Stubble Burning, Entry Points Discussed Today

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice AG Masih again heard the matter of severe air pollution in Delhi-NCR after directing not to reduce GRAP restrictions without the court's permission earlier this week.

GRAP is a graded response action plan, divided into various phases of restrictions to be implemented. GRAP 3 was invoked on 13 November and then GRAP 4 on 18 November when air quality further deteriorated.

On Friday (22 November), Justice Oka directed the central government to post police personnel at all 113 entry points and paralegal volunteers to be deployed to submit a report on whether vehicles are being stopped.

The court denied believing the Delhi government that entry from 113 points had been stopped because no material was placed on record about the number of check posts and entry points established.

On the issue of stubble burning, the court was told that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) believes that the algorithms of foreign stationery satellite data are not validated over India.

"For Haryana burnt area increased to 8.3 lakh in 2023 from 3.5 lakh hectares in 2021. As per CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) data for Haryana farm fires decreased so there is clearly a discrepancy," Gopal S added.

"As a government agency, we cannot rely on sensors which are untested. We have to develop a protocol with the help of the experts. Punjab and Haryana are also part of the committee," advocate Bhati said.

The court will now hear the case only regarding stubble burning and connected issues like collection of data etc and what are the measures to be taken in January next year.

For the Monday (25 November) hearing, the court has listed to consider the question of continuing GRAP 4 measures and various issues arising from it like inconveniences to working parents and children.