'Toothless': Supreme Court grills Punjab, Haryana over stubble burning
PTC News Desk: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed Punjab and Haryana - governments over stubble burning leading to Delhi air pollution.
The apex court questioned state governments as arguments over states' noncompliance with, and failure to implement anti-pollution regulations rumbled into yet another hearing. Meanwhile, air quality in Delhi and the national capital region remains 'very poor', raising concerns about the risk of increasing respiratory illnesses.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice A Amanullah, and Justice AG Masih denounced the Punjab and Haryana governments' efforts to combat farm fires as "mere eyewash".
The state governments were questioned about the lack of prosecution, or even the implementation of commensurate financial penalties, against farmers who violated the law.
The top court also chastised the union government for "toothless" environmental protection regulations, pointing out that Section 15 of the Environmental Protection Act, which addresses penalties for breaking the law, had been amended so that the "procedure for imposing penalty cannot be followed".
Section 15 was the "only section for enforcing the EPA," Justice Oka pointed out, to which Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the centre, stated that it would be "fully operationalised" within 10 days and that both state governments had been apprised of this.
Justice Oka slammed the Punjab government, doubting its claim that 44 persons had been prosecuted. "Your Advocate-General said nothing was done..." the court told senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi, representing the Punjab government, "... not a single prosecution."
The court was informed that 417 people had received penalties totalling Rs 11 lakh for violating stubble burning laws but expressed dissatisfaction with the "nominal" amounts.
"You impose nominal fines. You have given licence to people (to commit the crime) ..." Justice Oka said when told fines varied from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per violator. "
The Punjab government's Chief Secretary argued that "very small fires" were occasionally overlooked, to which the court harshly responded, "...the minimum expected of you is to fine."
The court then turned to the Haryana government and expressed concern that no prosecutions had been recorded since June 2021, when the Commission for Air Quality Management, a central government agency, issued orders to prosecute those who violated the anti-farm fires rule.
The Haryana government claimed progress in suppressing farm fires, citing data indicating that just 655 were reported this year (of which perhaps 200 were false flags), compared to nearly 10,000 the previous year, but the court was not satisfied.
"(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 total," the state government said. However, a cynical judge remarked, "Are you collecting under Section 15 so they can be later quashed (and the amount returned to farmers) on appeal?"
- PTC NEWS
