SC to Centre: Submit report on your plans to control stubble burning

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central government to submit a detailed report on how it plans to control stubble burning in future as it has already brought a new ordinance to deal with air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region and adjoining areas.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, to file a detailed plan.

"Come to us with a concrete plan on stubble burning (for the next year)," the CJI asked Solicitor General.

The Bench posted the matter for hearing next week.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh appearing for petitioner Aditya Dubey, who filed a plea against stubble burning, told the apex court that now the season of stubble burning is over but the affidavit of the Centre needs to show steps for the next season.

The Central government had earlier informed the Supreme Court that an ordinance has been brought in to deal with air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region and adjoining areas.

Earlier, the government told the Supreme Court that it is contemplating to create a permanent body by enacting legislation to deal with annual air pollution issue in Delhi-NCR arising from stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

It had asked the top court to keep in abeyance its October 16, 2020, order of appointing former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur as one-man commission, which the Bench had accepted.

The apex court on October 16 had expressed its concern that the citizens of Delhi-NCR should get to breathe clean and fresh air and appointed Justice (retd) Madan B Lokur, a former judge of the top court, to act as the one-man monitoring committee to prevent stubble burning in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and submit a report.

The court was hearing a plea filed by a student Aditya Dubey that referred to a Harvard University study that air pollution may now be an important factor that aggravates a mild COVID-19 infection into an acute one.

The petition contended that stubble burning contributes almost 40 per cent of air pollution in Delhi while seeking directions to ban stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana which causes massive air pollution in the national capital in winters.

(ANI)

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