At a time when the national capital Delhi and its surrounding regions continue to suffer deadly air pollution, the newly appointed Chief Justice of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, refused urgent listing of a petition seeking an end of stubble burning. Shockingly, the CJI also ruled that ending stubble burning will not end air pollution, despite the evidence that burning of farm residue during this period contributes significantly to air pollution in the region.
Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha had mentioned the PIL today seeking urgent listing, but the CJI refused the plea. In his mention, advocate Jha said that banning of stubble burning can be effective in tackling the pollution issue, but the CJI didn’t agree with the observation. Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who took oath as the Chief Justice of India yesterday, said that enforcing the ban against every farmer will not work, and the country needs ‘some genuine solutions’.
“Let’s find some genuine solutions, this is not the way,” the CJI said. He also suggested that the matter is not judicially amendable, and therefore the court can’t take it up immediately. “There are some things that courts can do and some things courts can’t. We handle matters which are judicially amenable. We will not take it up immediately,” CJI DY Chandrachud reportedly said.
The PIL has been filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha seeking directions to stop stubble burning by declaring it a criminal offence, which mentions the union government and the governments of Delhi NCT, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh as respondents. The Writ Petition has been filed under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution to protect the interest of the public at large who are suffering from air pollution.
Talking about the severity of the situation, the PIL cites the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report released by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), which says that residents of Delhi stand to lose 10 years of life due to air pollution. It mentions how the air quality index in Delhi has reached dangerous levels crossing 400+.
The petition then adds that stubble burning in the region continues, with 2,109 fire incidents recorded on November 1, out of which 1,842 incidents were from Punjab alone. “the situation is so worse that National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended that the schools of Delhi must be closed in order to protect the children from severe air-pollution,” says the PIL.
Advocate Jha mentions that despite orders of the Supreme Court, the governments have not taken steps to ensure a complete ban on stubble burning, and in fact, it has increased by 21% in Punjab this year. The PIL states reports saying that the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution jumped to 38 per cent, which is the main reason behind thick layer of pungent smog over national capital. The PIL also states how the AQI in the region continues to be in severe category.
Given these facts, the PIL raises several questions, which are:
- Whether stubble burning is a criminal offence?
- Whether states are responsible to stop stubble burning at any cost?
- Whether states have failed to stop stubble burning in their respective states?
- Whether state has the responsibility to curb pollution through multiple measures?
- Whether Apex Court being guardian of the Constitution is responsible to protect the future of India and look into this matter?
Therefore, advocate Jha petitioned the Supreme Court to issue directions in respect to stubble burning, to issue directions on pollution control measures like installation of smog towers, plantation drives, affordable public transport, etc. The petition also requests to set up a High-level committee under the Chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court Judge to tackle the air-pollution crisis due to stubble burning, to direct the governments to take responsibility of eliminating stubble burning. The petitioner also requested that the educational institutions should be closed and they should shift to virtual/online classes.
However, as mentioned above, the CJI refused urgent listing of the PIL despite the fact Delhi region is currently choking from severe air pollution. While CJI said that stopping farmers from burning stubble will not end air pollution, the fact is that stubble burning is a major cause of air pollution during this period, and if stopped, the pollution level will come down significantly.
According to data provided by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the share of stubble burning in PM.25 pollutants had jumped to 38% on November 3rd, the highest this season.
As per a study by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) published earlier this year, biomass burning contributes the most to the air pollution of the national capital. The report also had said that pollution from firecrackers used on Diwali is insignificant, as the pollutants from Diwali firecrackers are heavy and they don’t even remain in the air for a day.
Biomass burning during winter includes stubble burning and burning of firewood etc for heat. The study titled ‘Chemical speciation and source apportionment of ambient PM2.5 in New Delhi before, during, and after the Diwali fireworks’ studied pollution caused by Diwali firecrackers as compared to other sources. It concluded that biomass burning emissions rather than the fireworks drive the poor air quality in the days following Diwali.
The report said that biomass burning-related emissions rise steeply in the post-Diwali phase, and the average values increase by more than twice as compared to the pre-Diwali phase.
The study says that firecrackers mainly generate metallic elements, high levels of black carbon, and gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide, along with oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. The study found that while the concentration of these elements peaked at around midnight on Diwali, their level plummeted to around one-third by the following day.
This and other earlier reports have concluded that Diwali firecrackers cause rise in pollution for a very short period, while stubble burning remains a major cause running into months. But the apex court has taken completely opposite stands on it. While the court today refused listing of the PIL against stubble burning, before Diwali this year the same court had refused to allow even green firecrackers in Delhi citing severe air pollution.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari had moved the apex court challenging the blanket ban on firecrackers in Delhi, which goes against an earlier Supreme Court order denying such blanket bans. But despite the fact that the Delhi govt’s ban violated the court’s own order, the Supreme Court had refused to hear the matter before Diwali. The court had said “Let People Breathe Clean Air”, thereby ruling that Diwali is responsible for polluted air despite facts stating otherwise.
In fact, last year the Supreme Court even rejected a study by IIT Kanpur which also had concluded that firecrackers are not among the top pollutants. When it was mentioned in the court that the IIT-Kanpur report does not list firecrackers even in the list of top 15 contributors to air pollution, a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna had commented that they do not need IIT to understand that firecrackers cause pollution.
The IIT-Kanpur report commissioned by the Delhi Government in 2016 had found that Diwali was not the major cause of pollution, and air pollution in Delhi were more than the Diwali day in days and weeks after Diwali. That report also had found that pollution caused by Diwali is extremely short-lived.
