As Mumbai gets added to the list of cities being enveloped by smog, the Bombay High Court issued directions on November 6 to tackle the pollution. The Court found that there was a general consensus on the part of all concerned that something drastic needs to be done not only for improving the air quality in Mumbai, but there was a need for an appropriate mechanism to see that it does not get worse. However, the bench noted that despite various action plans, guidelines and other mechanisms, both statutory and non-statutory, due to poor or inadequate implementation, the quality of air remains the same.
Some of the directions given by the Court are:
a) The Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan proclaimed by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in March 2023 and the guidelines issued by it and the Environment and Climate Change Department on October 25, 2023, shall be implemented by all concerned in its true letter and spirit. To ensure compliance, the Court directed that it shall be the personal responsibility of the assistant municipal commissioner of each and every ward to be accountable to this Court for any lapse in implementation of the Plan.
b) A similar action plan shall be followed in the rest of the municipal corporations other than Mumbai.
c) Municipal corporations shall ensure that metal sheets are erected around construction sites of sufficient height to ensure that dust does not spread.
d) To separate the dust generated at construction sites, municipal corporations shall ensure that regular and continuous water sprinkling is done by the project proponents/construction agencies.
e) Municipal authorities shall also ensure that storage piles at construction sites are properly covered and cleared in terms of the guidelines issued by the state government and the MCGM as also by the Central Pollution Control Board.
f) It shall be ensured by all concerned that no construction debris is carried or transported to or out of the construction site. It shall also be ensured that all construction material being taken to the construction site including ready-mix concrete is transported in fully covered trucks or mixer plants.
g) On the next date, if the air quality does not substantially improve, the Court may pass an order banning transportation of construction material in and out of the construction sites.
h) The bench also directed that the authorities shall ensure that no burning of any waste, including solid waste, is permitted in open areas, especially at municipal dumping sites.
i) Traffic and transport department officials shall strictly implement vehicular emission norms in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and the Rules framed under it.
j) Municipal authorities and the police administration shall also ensure that bursting of firecrackers takes place between 7 pm and 10 pm. The High Court issued this direction keeping in view various directions issued by the National Green Tribunal as also having regard to the directions issued by the Supreme Court in Arjun Gopal and Ors. vs Union of India and also an order passed by the Court on November 12, 2020, wherein on behalf of the State, an undertaking was given that guidelines issued from time to time regarding firecrackers shall be strictly followed.
k) The state government and municipal corporations and more particularly, educational institutions in the government and non-government sectors in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region shall immediately take steps to spread awareness about the ill-effects that the burning/bursting firecrackers would cause to the existing polluted environment.
The Bench also directed municipal commissioners of respective municipal corporations to not only supervise the steps to be taken under this order, but identify erring officers responsible for any lapse in the implementation of the guidelines.
The Court also felt it appropriate to constitute a two-member committee comprising the Director, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, working under the aegis of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Principal Secretary, Public Health, Government of Maharashtra, to supervise the steps being taken by all municipal corporations on a daily basis. “The Municipal Commissioners shall submit a daily report to this two-member committee regularly. In case, this two-member committee finds it appropriate to make any suggestions, it will be open to the committee members to tender the suggestions to the Municipal Corporations,” the order read.
On October 31, a division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor took note of various newspaper articles which reported the deteriorating air quality in Mumbai and surrounding areas.
According to Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring chart, an AQI between 0 and 50 is termed good, between 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor and beyond 400 severe.
Articles on October 31 have reported that the air quality in Mumbai has been “unhealthy” for over three consecutive days and that the city was now ranked 7th among most polluted cities globally. The bench found that the AQI in Mumbai over the past 15 to 20 days had ranged from 150 (moderate) to 411 (severe). The articles reported that though the MCGM had taken certain steps to reduce and/or mitigate the air pollution in Mumbai, the AQI levels had not improved.
“Further we must note and what is crucial is that no steps have been taken to create/issue the necessary health advisories as also to raise awareness amongst the citizens so as to best safeguard themselves from deleterious levels of AQI presently prevailing in Mumbai. This factor needs immediate attention,” the bench said.
The Court noted that The Indian Express had quoted a senior scientist and project director in System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research as saying: “When AQI readings are between 200 and 300, it impacts vulnerable groups like senior citizens and children as well as people with comorbidities, but people with good health condition will not be very much affected. However, if the AQI readings cross 300 or 400, it will start affecting a wider base of people and higher the readings climb, more and more people will be affected.” The article also said that an epidemiologist and pulmonologist from Hinduja Hospital had explained how poor air quality was comparative to smoking in terms of health risks. Exposure to air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) can have similar effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular system.
The Times of India had also recorded that Wadia Hospital at Parel had seen a 30% rise in children with respiratory distress over the past few days and that the PM limit was more than double the national standard.
“These articles as also the several articles which have appeared in various newspapers over the past few days present an alarming scenario and one which needs to be urgently addressed and tackled in the welfare and interest of all the residents of Mumbai and its surrounding areas, young and old alike,” observed the High Court.
Incidentally, in March this year a bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Justices SV Bhatti and Basant Nalaji had come down heavily on the state government for neglecting environmental issues. It said in its order that the suo motu initiative of the Court must not be treated as a publicity interest litigation or a prosecution interest litigation. Being a constitutional Court, it is the custodian and guardian of the rights of the citizens and also the rights under the Environmental Protection Act along with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
Environmental activism now seems to be the job of courts too.
—By Shivam Sharma and India Legal Bureau
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