Gujarat HC directs state, GPCB to file affidavits on vehicular pollution

Panchal said that the division bench of High Court, led by Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Jayant Patel, directed state government and the GPCB, the pollution regulatory authority, to file affidavits. He said that the petition will be heard together with two petitions seeking review of 2012 order of the court. In 2012, two PILs, somewhat similar, were disposed of by a common order.

One of the PILs filed by Dhamecha was related to the allocation of natural gas to Gujarat as Administered Price Mechanism rate of City Gas Distribution, the rate on which natural gas is being supplied to metro cities, like Delhi and Mumbai. It was filed with the interest of improving and preserving the environment and the ecology and for the benefit of the residents of the state.

The court had allowed the PIL and had also directed the state government to pass necessary order, “compelling the owners of all the vehicles having registration in Gujarat to use natural gas and, if necessary, even at higher prices within a shortest possible period, at any rate, not exceeding one year from today for protection of the lives of the citizens living in this state.” The government has remained unresponsive till date and didn’t seek review of the petition whereas the Indian Oil Corporation and others moved court, stating the direction was not viable.

When the review petition was filed, the state government submitted that “it is difficult to implement such directions, more particularly, so far as diesel cars are concerned, because in a petrol engine, it is possible to fit a CNG kit, but it is not possible to fit a CNG kit in a diesel engine.”

In July this year, High Court passed an order directing the state government to come out with a plan to discontinue use of diesel vehicles in a phased manner. Following this, an exercise was taken to check all kinds of vehicles whether they were complying with the emission norms. On September 24, after the report was submitted, the court expressed surprise since all the vehicles were given clean chit. “We are really surprised to notice that those vehicles included trucks, buses, etc, which are known for causing maximum pollution in the air… It appears from the report placed on record that hundreds of cars were checked. But there was none which failed the test. This is something unpalatable and we are not convinced with such report,” the court stated in its order.

Citing various orders recently passed by the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, concerning the capital and NCRs, the division bench directed the GPCB to do field survey and emission sampling from the diesel and petrol vehicles of different ages and models for assessing actual pollution being generated. On December 10, the GPCB submitted a report, but the court directed it to do further survey as a number of vehicles inspected in the respective categories were not the same.