[Delhi Pollution] “You did not mislead us on stubble burning”: Supreme Court tells Solicitor General Tushar Mehta

Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice N.V.Ramana, Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that he did not mislead the court and that he pointed out 10% of the pollution is on account of stubble burning but it was pointed out to them from the affidavit that it was 30% to 40%.

When the hearing of the case began Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, today told court that he would like to clarify that he did not mislead the court on stubble burning, he further told the court that there have been certain nasty occurrences on TV that showed that he misled the court.

CJI said “These kinds of criticisms keep happening since we occupy a public office. Our conscience is clear, we work for the people.”

The SG at this point clarified that in the earlier affidavit it has been mentioned that some factors contribute to the pollution through out and some factors like stubble burning contribute for a limited time, stubble burning happens in the neighbouring States for 2 months in a year.

The SG further told the court that the other factor that enhances the pollution is the direction of wind into NCR and that there is no inside wind movement in the region. The SG told the court that he said for 2 months in this time of the year, there are increase in fire crackers and stubble burning and explained how efforts have been put in place to handle the situation when stubble burning increases. The SG told the court that this was projected as if he mentioned that stubble burning contributes to only 3 to 4% of the pollution owing to elections.

The bench clarified to the SG that they have recorded in their order that the stubble burning contributes 35-40% of the pollution. The CJI in a lighter vein told the court that TV debates cause more pollution than anything.

On 13th November, the SG said ‘The colour of political parties do not matter in tackling Delhi pollution, it is a joint exercise':

A 17 year old college student Aditya Dubey had in 2020 filed a Public Interest Litigation regarding alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi. The case was listed today in view of an application filed by the petitioners asking the court to pass appropriate orders in the light of excessive levels of air pollution in Delhi at present.

The case will now be heard on 17th November.

Case title : Aditya Dubey Vs Union of India