New Delhi:

The Supreme Court grilled the central – and Punjab and Haryana – governments on Wednesday as arguments over states’ non-compliance with, and failure to enforce, anti-pollution measures, rolled into yet another hearing, even as air quality in Delhi and the national capital region remains ‘very poor’ and prompts concern over the risk of increased respiratory diseases.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice A Amanullah, and Justice AG Masih, dismissed as “mere eyewash” the Punjab and Haryana governments’ efforts to stamp out farm fires – i.e., farmers burning agricultural waste – that contribute to toxic air smothering Delhi annually.

The state governments were questioned over the lack of prosecution, or even imposition of commensurate financial penalties, of farmers violating the law, and, in the case of Haryana, even suggested the failure to enforce was a “policy devised by you” to favour some farmers over others.

The top court also rapped the union government over “toothless” environmental protection laws, observing that laws meant to control pollution, specifically the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act of 2021 had been passed sans the administrative machinery to ensure implementation.

It was also pointed out that Section 15 of the Environmental Protection Act – which covers penalties for violating anti-pollution laws – had amended so “procedure for imposing penalty cannot be followed”.

Section 15 was the “only section for enforcing the EPA”, it was pointed out, to which Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the centre, said it would be “fully operationalised” in 10 days.

“Not A Single Prosecution…”

Punjab was the first to feel the court’s wrath, with Justice Oka doubting its claim that 44 people had been prosecuted. “Your Advocate-General said nothing was done…” the court told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Punjab government, “… not a single prosecution.”

The court was told that Rs 11 lakh had been recovered, as fines, from 417 people violating the stubble burning laws, but declared itself unhappy at the “nominal” amounts charged.

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“You impose nominal fines…” Justice Oka observed when told fines varied from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per violator. “You have given licence to people (to commit the crime) …” he noted, also asking Mr Singhvi why 684 others violating the same law had been spared any penalty.

The Punjab government’s Chief Secretary claimed that “very small fires” were sometimes overlooked, to which the court responded sharply, “… minimum expected of you is to fine.”

Haryana Govt ‘Under Fire’

The court then moved to the Haryana government, and lamented that not one prosecution had been recorded since June 2021, when the Commission for Air Quality Management, a central government panel, issued orders to prosecute those violating the anti-farm fires law.

The Haryana government claimed success in controlling farm fires, pointing to data that claims only 655 had been reported this year (of which around 200 were found to be false flags) compared to nearly 10,000 earlier, but the court was not fully convinced.

“(If) there are around 400 fires why have only 32 police cases been filed?”

“Others have been penalised as per Section 15 of EPA… we have collected Rs 2 crore totally,” the state government responded, to which a cynical court asked, “Are you collecting under Section 15 so they can be later quashed (and amount returned to farmers) on appeal?”

The Haryana Chief Secretary sought credit for having reduced the count of farm fires but the Supreme Court was entirely unhappy, saying, “This is all hogwash… Is this some policy devised by you? So, some people are arrested, and some others just fined? We are very sceptical…”

The court also cast doubt over the drastic reduction in farm fire numbers, suggesting that many may not have been recorded. “Again… in some, police cases are registered, and in others there is nominal amount (of fine recovered). There needs to be consistency in the approach.”

“States Interested In Implementing Law”?

The Supreme Court said “there will have been at least one prosecution… if (Punjab and Haryana) are really interested in implementing the law”, and wondered aloud about “political reasons” for that failure.

Last week it was submitted that sometimes “political reasons” made it difficult to take action; Justice Oka had then said, “This is not a political issue… it is about implementation of statutory directions…”

The court had warned officials from CAQM – which it last week slammed as a “toothless wonder” for failing to enforce its orders and questioned its members’ competence – it would take action.

An irate court trained its guns on the anti-pollution panel today too.

Stubble burning in Punjab, shows data, has been lowest in the last three years. Data from NASA’s Worldview satellite, which detects fire events around the world, corroborates the assertion made by the Punjab government that stubble burning, a major cause of air pollution, in the state this year has been a fraction of what it has been over the last two years.

Stubble burning is a significant concern in Delhi and neighbouring states, as winter conditions trap pollutants, leading to hazardous air quality and thick smog.

One will still have to wait for a few weeks to be sure that the air this year remains cleaner across large parts of the Indo-Gangetic plain, the initial indicators are encouraging and are backed by data.  

The Punjab government says, in data shared with NDTV today, that there have been 196 farm fires across the state between September 15 to October 6, 2024. For the same period last year, there were 845 fires. And in 2022, for the same period, the data says there were 630 fires.

Significantly, on October 6, just yesterday, the Punjab government says that there were just three farm fires.

NDTV decided to fact-check the Punjab government data using a series of sensors deployed on NASA Worldview satellite and this is what they show. Here’s a comparison of first six days in October with corresponding data for the same period last year.

Amid growing concerns over stubble burning and pollution ahead of the winter season, AAP leader Malvinder Singh on Monday highlighted the Punjab government’s efforts to tackle the issue, asserting that stubble burning has reduced by 70%.

“The Bhagwant Mann government is working hard to reduce stubble burning. There has been a 70% reduction in stubble burning. The Punjab government is providing alternatives to farmers, as the biggest loss from stubble burning is borne by them. The government is actively working to manage the situation,” said Mr Kang.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has reiterated his government’s commitment to combating pollution by promoting the ‘Crop Residue Management Loan Scheme’, which helps farmers access machinery for disposing of stubble without burning it.

On September 27, the Supreme Court had rapped the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) over its failure to curb air pollution in Delhi due to crop residue burning in the neighbouring states and said it needs to be more active in its approach.

The top court had said efforts are needed to ensure that stubble-burning alternative equipment is used at the grassroots level.

With the onset of stubble burning season, ‘flying squads’ have been deployed in several districts of Haryana and Punjab to monitor such incidents.

Flying Squads will assess the ground-level situation and report to the Commission and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) “on a daily basis”, including the steps taken to prevent further incidents of paddy stubble burning in the allocated district, the Ministry of Environment said.