The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for making
the environment protection law toothless, and said the provision under the CAQM
Act which deals with penalty for stubble burning was not being implemented.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanulllah and
Augustine George Masih said the Commission for Air Quality Management in
National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act of 2021 (CAQM Act) was enacted
without creating required machinery for implementing the provision to curb air
pollution.
Additional Solicitor
General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said section 15 of the CAQM
Act, which deals with penalty for stubble burning, will be implemented
effectively as regulations for it will be issued in 10 days.
She submitted that an adjudicating officer will be appointed and
all necessary actions will be taken to enforce the law effectively.
Bhati pointed out that the Commission for Air Quality Management
(CAQM) has issued notices to senior administrative officials of Punjab and
Haryana besides officials of the state pollution control boards and sought
their response as to why action should not be taken against them.
The bench asked the CAQM who is taking your notices seriously as
the procedure is not provided under the law.
"Please tell your
chairperson of CAQM not to bail out these officials. We know what is happening
on the ground," the bench said.
Bhati pointed out that over 1,000 cases of stubble burning have
taken place in several districts of Punjab like Amritsar, Ferozepur, Patiala,
Sangrur, Taran Taran.
On October 16, the top court had pulled up the Punjab and
Haryana governments over the non-prosecution of violators found guilty of
stubble burning while summoning the state chief secretaries to appear before it
on October 23 for an explanation.
The top court has been upset over Punjab and Haryana governments not
taking any steps to implement the directions issued by the CAQM in the national
capital region (NCR) to stop stubble burning.