desk
Share
News Topical, Digital Desk : After the Supreme Court took strong cognizance of the air pollution issue in the national capital, the Bombay High Court followed suit. The court on Friday took a strong stand and reprimanded officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
The court, referring to the deliberate disregard of orders to combat air pollution, clearly stated that the officials themselves are breathing the same polluted air and are not living in a foreign world. Genuine and sincere efforts are not being made to address the problem.
A bench of Chief Justice Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam also warned of withholding the salaries of the Municipal Commissioners of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai for non-compliance with the court order to improve the Air Quality Index (AQI).
The next hearing on this matter will be held on January 27. It is worth noting that in 2023, the court had taken suo motu cognizance of the increasing air pollution in the city and initiated hearings and issued several directions to municipal bodies and other authorities to reduce air pollution.
S.U. Kamdar, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) lawyer, told the court that the municipal body had issued stop-work notices at construction sites and 600 other sites to reduce air pollution in the city. AQI monitors have been installed at 400 locations. The court was not satisfied with Kamdar's response.
The court emphasized that all these steps were taken merely to comply with the court's order. "What were you doing all these years? We're not here to assess the situation every time. It's not the court's job to run the municipal corporation," the court said.
The court summoned a detailed report of air quality monitoring data and directed the BMC to submit daily sensor data for three months prior to November 2025. The court said, "We need data. This will reveal the true situation."
--Advertisement--
