GRAP-IV pollution curbs to stay, tighter border checks needed: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Delhi Police over no checkpoints at the borders of the city for checking the pollution measures and said that it was a “serious lapse”.
A bench, led by Justice AS Oka said that they would consider prosecution of the Delhi Police Commissioner under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Act for deploying police personnel at only 23 check points, instead of all, on November 18 when Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) kicked in.
The court refused to relax GRAP IV measures in Delhi and directed the CAQM to consider relaxing norms for students, observing that several students cannot avail midday meals, online classes and can’t access air purifiers.
Notably, the court has appointed 13 members from the court as commissioners to check whether the GRAP IV measures are being implemented or not. The commissioners submitted their report to the court on Monday (November 25).
The court told the Delhi government that there were no checkposts at borders of the city and that the ban on trucks entering into the capital was not being followed properly.
The bench said that they were informed that no police or government personnel were present at the border checkpoints, and they were only manned by toll collection staff of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
“Why were the Police not directed to take action under Stage IV of the GRAP? We will direct prosecution against all officials,” the court said.
When Advocate Shadan Farasat, who was appearing for the Delhi government, responded that the CAQM had issued directions, the court asked him to show what written instructions were given by the state and the central government to the police on November 18.
Farasat then said that directions were issued to post police personnel at 23 checkpoints where trucks could enter the city.
“This is negligence. You sitting in your office decide that we will post policement only at these 23 points? We will direct CAQM to prosecute the Delhi Police Commissioner,” the court said.
“You could have come to the conclusion that trucks don’t enter through these points only if you put someone there to monitor,” it added.