NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court on Monday slammed the
Delhi government for not filing report on action taken by it to remove encroachments on roads and for traffic decongestion and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.
Delhi government’s counsel Wasim A Qadri had earlier assured the apex court that the recommendations of the task force relating to the action plan for removal of traffic congestion was being implemented. But the bench had asked him to file a detailed report. “We are not ready to accept such a bald statement. Specific details should be provided in this regard,” the court had said.
The court had also expressed displeasure that the
Delhi Traffic Police had selected only five of 77 spots, identified by the task force, for traffic decongestion and sought response from the government.
After the Delhi government failed to comply with the court’s order, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta imposed the fine and granted one last opportunity to file report within two weeks. The bench passed the order while hearing a case pertaining to pollution crisis in Delhi.
The court also asked the Centre to explore the possibility of introducing BS-6 fuel in 13 metro cities by April, 2019 and examine the issue with regard to pricing of diesel so as to disincentivise vehicles running on the "dirty fuel".
Although the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority has recommended complete ban on sale and manufacture of BS-IV vehicles from April 1, 2020, the Centre opposed the plea in the Supreme Court, saying that only manufacturing should be banned and automobile companies allowed to exhaust their stocks even after the deadline.
In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change contended that the SC order banning registration of BS III vehicles from April 1 last year after enforcement of BS-IV had created a regulatory uncertainty and it should be avoided. The apex court had on March 30 banned sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from April 1 last year and dismissed the plea of the Centre and auto-makers to allow them to dispose of existing stocks after the deadline.
“It is submitted that the cut-off date for rolling out
BS-VI vehicles shall be in reference to date of manufacture and not date of registration as indicated in the
Ministry of Road Transport ans Highway notification. That the previous experience with respect to rolling out of BS-IV from April 1 as per the direction of the court, which directed ban not only manufacturing but also registration of already manufactured BS-III vehicles against the notification which created a scenario of regulatory uncertainty,” the Centre said in its affidavit.
Supreme Court (File Photo)
