SC Slams Delhi Govt, Police for Lapses in GRAP-IV Implementation, Orders Action
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 25th Nov. The Supreme Court on Monday lambasted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Delhi Police for failing to strictly enforce GRAP-IV measures to combat air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR). It directed the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to take action against erring officials under Section 14 of the CAQM Act, 2021, which prescribes penalties for non-compliance.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih noted that no substantial efforts were made to implement clauses 1, 2, and 3 of GRAP-IV, which addresses the most severe air pollution conditions. It highlighted that police personnel were deployed at entry points only on November 23 without proper instructions.
The bench expressed dissatisfaction with the authorities’ approach, questioning why police were stationed at only 23 checkpoints and directing the CAQM to consider prosecuting the Delhi Police Commissioner under the Act.
Refusing to relax GRAP-IV curbs, the court emphasized that unless there was a consistent downward trend in the Air Quality Index (AQI), it could not permit transitioning to less stringent GRAP stages. It further instructed the CAQM to present updated AQI data during the next hearing on November 28.
The court is reviewing measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), first implemented in 2017, which categorizes air quality into four stages—Stage 1 (“poor”), Stage 2 (“very poor”), Stage 3 (“severe”), and Stage 4 (“severe plus”)—with corresponding action plans. Currently, Delhi-NCR is under Stage 4, triggered by an AQI exceeding 450.
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