COURTESY HT DEC 9
Bad-air law for NCR drafted, cleared in less than a week
Chetan Chauhan
chetan@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi : It took less than a week in October for the environment ministry to draft and promulgate an ordinance mandating a commission to monitor air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR), a Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed, showing that the process of framing the law started only after the top court ordered the formation of a committee (a different one) to track pollution.
On October 16, the Supreme Court said it was setting up a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur for monitoring stubble burning and air pollution in the NCR and nearby areas, considered to be some of the most polluted in India, particularly in the winter months when post-harvest crop residue burning in Punjab and Haryana causes the capital to be shrouded by smoky haze.
Five days after the SC order, the ministry started the process of setting up CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas) with statutory backing and on October 24, it requested the court not to constitute the panel. The SC agreed to the request. “The first draft of the Ordinance was created on October 23, 2020,” the reply to an RTI application filed by this correspondent said. And the Ordinance was promulgated on October 28, it added.The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 mandated the statutory body to adopt a consolidated approach towards monitoring, tackling and eliminating causes of air pollution in Delhi-NCR by coordinating with state governments which, however, were not consulted on the law.
The ordinance replaced the 22-year-old Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) which introduced several important interventions to control pollution. According to the Ordinance, based on court orders, various ad hoc committees like the EPCA had been formed to assist in the implementation of court directives, but the new commission would subsume them.
The commission works under the supervision of the central government and comprises members from all NCR states and the Central Pollution Control Board, apart from ministries such as petroleum and natural gas, agriculture and commerce. The commission is empowered to take decisions and act against sources of pollution under various laws like the Environment Protection Act and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. Former petroleum secretary MM Kutty was appointed as the first chairperson of the commission on November 7.Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) Prasoon Tripathi, in the RTI reply on December 2, admitted that there had been no consultations with the states or public on the draft.