Anushka Mansharamani
The Supreme Court of India adjourned the Public Interest Litigation plea filed seeking the ban on stubble burning in the state of Haryana and Punjab during the COVID-19 pandemic until January.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government, during the hearing, stated that their commission is working on a war footing.
The bench of CJI S A Bobde, Justices A. S. Bopanna, and V. Ramasubramanian replied that they don’t know what the commission is doing as the people of Delhi are not happy.
In the hearing that took place previously, the Central government had asked time from the court to submit a report of how the ordinance against air pollution has worked.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh asked for permission from the Supreme Court for the oral mention in the case.
He further brought to the notice of the court that there was a committee constituted with 4 members, however, the committee had not taken action in the matter, and the affidavit was not filed.
The Apex Court had appointed Justice Madan B. Lokur (retired) to monitor to prevent the stubble burning in Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh as these states were mainly causing pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.
The court further observed that the case should not have been brought up as the government should have taken measures to solve the problem as the people are choking.
Aditya Dubey, a Class 12 student, filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking the Punjab and Haryana governments to completely stop the stubble burning.
Lastly, Tushar Mehta stated that the Central government is considering legislation to be constituted regarding the issue.