Delhi: Supreme Court questions odd-even logic, seeks data

Hearing the Delhi air pollution matter Monday, Justice Mishra told the state government counsel, “People have to travel and will use other means like autos, taxis and two-wheelers. It will add to pollution.”

The bench also asked, “What do you plan to achieve by stopping these cars which create less pollution than autos and two-wheelers?”

The counsel replied that autos run on CNG and are less polluting: “What we are achieving is lesser number of vehicles on roads.” On another question on “third-grade vehicles” on the roads, the counsel said the move will also encourage people to share vehicles.

Justice Mishra, however, pointed out: “The issue is, even if you are stopping one vehicle, another is plying in its place.” Another counsel added that not all taxis plying in the national capital are CNG equipped.

Justice Gupta remarked that “we would have understood if the comparison was between cars and buses”, and added that the real solution lay in boosting public transport facilities.

The judge reminded the Delhi government that it had to introduce 1,000 new buses but had hardly brought 100 so far.

Justice Gupta also underlined how the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, was compounding the pollution crisis by forcing farmers to delay paddy harvesting.

He said this when a counsel pointed out that Haryana had shown a significant decline in stubble burning and that this was due to enforcement. The counsel blamed failure to implement the order for continuing farm fires in Punjab.