The Supreme Court has modified a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order which said that vehicles plying in Delhi airport should compulsorily shift to CNG and comply with emission norms.
A Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had on Monday clarified that the CNG rule will only be applicable to coaches and buses operating in the airport and no other vehicles.
The order came after operators at the airport appealed against the tribunal’s November 24, 2107, decision. The NGT had given a deadline of six months, but the Supreme Court had, in an earlier order, stayed the implementation of the tribunal’s direction.
The NGT verdict was challenged by the Federation of Indian Airlines and airline catering companies.
The federation, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, and catering companies, represented by senior advocate N.K. Kaul and advocate Shikhil Suri, submitted there was no discussion and no reasons were given in support of the direction in the NGT order.
They had submitted that there were specialised vehicles which can only be run on diesel. A ban on them would seriously affect operations at one of the busiest airports in the world, they had argued.
Delhi International Airport Ltd had argued that the tribunal order would affect the functioning of quick response teams like fire tenders at the airport, which cannot run on CNG mode.
“In our view, the grievance raised by the appellants seems to be justified,” the Supreme Court recorded in its order.
The NGT had also ordered use of green wall technology to reduce noise pollution and highlighted the issue of noise pollution near the airport.
It had even suggested avoiding use of reverse thrust during landing.