The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped the Haryana and Punjab government officials over the issue of non compliance of orders passed by Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in Delhi-NCR, particularly regarding stubble burning. The top court asked the Haryana government to explain the hesitation in prosecuting people involved in stubble burning and violating CAQM orders. The court said that this was not a political issue and Haryana government's approach showed "complete insensitivity."
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih pulled up the Haryana and Punjab government over non-compliance with CAQM orders and directed the chief secretary to personally remain present in the court and on next Wednesday.
"Why no prosecution for violation of orders? This is not a political issue. It is about implementation of statutory directions by Commission under Section 12 and no political considerations will apply here." Justice Oka remarked.
The top court said that this was a case of complete insensitivity being shown by the state of Haryana and its Chief Secretary.
"ISRO tells you the locations of the fires and you so lovely say that the fire locations were not found. Nobody is going to prosecute them nobody is going to take action against them they will pay a nominal fine what is going on?...This is complete insensitivity being shown by the state and by the Chief Secretary. If Secretary is acting at the instance of somebody else tell us we will issue summon to him also. What is the hesitation in prosecuting people? And you don't constitute committees which are required to be constituted." Justice Oka asked.
The top court while dictating order said that it had expected the Government of Haryana to file and affidavit reporting compliance with directions issued on 10th June 2021 by the commission. However, it found that penal action as contemplated by direction of 10th June 2021, has not been taken even in a single case, even when the affidavit indicated that there were as many as 191 cases of fire.
"Only nominal fine has been recovered. Even the machinery has not been set up. The order of commission is in force for last more than 3 years. We direct the concerned authorities to take appropriate course of action against the officials of the state responsible for non compliance by invoking Section 14. We direct the chief secretary to personally remain present in the court and on next Wednesday the Commission will make a statement about action initiated against officials of the state in terms of this order," the court ordered.
Supreme Court Questions Punjab Government Over Non-Action Against Violators
The top court noted that affidavit by Punjab government as in the case of state of Haryana is an affidavit reporting non-compliance with directions issued on 10 June 2021 by the commission.
The court expressed displeasure on this approach of State Governments of not taking penal action against violators. Justice Oka expressed displeasure over Advocate General of Punjab's statement over difficulty of prosecution of violaters. The court said that with this approach, the people will keep paying nominal fine and get away with stubble burning.
Just like Haryana, the top court directed the chief secretary of state of Punjab to personally remain present in the court on the next date of hearing.
"On behalf of the state he must explain the defaults made by the State. We direct the CAQM to take suitable action against the officials of the state for non-compliance with their directions issued under Section 12 of the CAQM Act. The Central Government will submit a compliance report on the next date," the top court said.