MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad on Wednesday came down strongly on the Mumbai civic administration—BMC—for failing to implement its own air pollution mitigating guidelines. They kept the matter back at 4 PM, asking Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani to remain present again.
The Chief Justice asked the civic counsel, “What steps have you taken? What instructions have you received from the civic chief last evening? What are the orders you passed last evening? How many sites visited since 2 PM yesterday?”
The High Court summoned Gagrani and a member secretary of the MPCB on Tuesday to explain personally the failure to ensure compliance with its guidelines across 36 sites that a four-member team surveyed. Both were present on Tuesday when the High Court, which is hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the hazards of air pollution in the city and nearby areas, posted the matter to Wednesday, giving time for BMC to apply its mind and come back with practical solutions to ease the non-compliance concerns. On Wednesday, Gagrani was not present, and when asked, senior counsel SU Kamdar said an additional municipal commissioner was present as he thought the High Court meant the municipal commissioner be present only on Tuesday.
The High Court grilled the BMC on what steps were taken, sites visited, the work of its squads, and action to ensure compliance. Kamdar said the pollution levels dropped since last year in Mumbai, and the readings of AQI reflected a “satisfactory” level.
When Kamdar said of the 94 squads, 39 visited sites, the High Court quizzed him on the reason. He said many were on election duty. The bench remarked, “If out of 94 squads only 39 visited and if others were on election duty, you should have made an application to the election commission to say they are doing important work and sought an exemption. The squads should do multiple visits every day.”
Darius Khambata, senior counsel and amicus curiae, informed the High Court that seven of the 30 AQI monitors were not working. Janak Dwarkadas, senior counsel for an intervenor NGO, said, “It appears the right to life of citizens is subservient to election duty.” The High Court repeated, “You (the BMC) could have made an application to SEC to see that they be exempted from election duty. Come back with a concrete proposal to ensure compliance with guidelines. We are adjourning it for that only. On the ground, no attempt to enforce guidelines.”
“You don’t have anything in place. You have not applied your mind at all. You have no mechanism in place. If two-thirds of your staff were not working, give us data on how many visits were done by your squads. Instead of us putting questions to you, you should be giving us the information voluntarily. This is not a happy situation. You are not working. This is really a problem of implementation. You just put some camera. No implementation. Simply saying pollution has gone down doesn’t mean you are working,” the Chief Justice-led bench said orally. To Kamdar, the High Court said, “You don’t have sufficient instructions. Come at 4 PM and call the municipal commissioner.”
Kamdar said, “We held a meeting yesterday (Tuesday),” to which the Chief Justice said, “Bring minutes of the meeting.”
Tejesh Dande, counsel for NMMC, said the Navi Mumbai civic body has in fact come out with proposals of adding 52 more AQI monitors every 2 sq km as against the legally mandated 10 km, and when asked, said installation would take up to 6 months as it would be on a “war footing.” Khambata asked how it was “war footing” then.
Dande said NMMC has also made it compulsory for every building site to have AQI monitors and added water fountains were installed at 100 squares. The four-member panel appointed by the High Court to do a ground-reality check on enforcement of civic guidelines at construction sites said the Mahape sensor was not working.
The High Court returned its attention to BMC, saying, “We are telling you are doing nothing. You have such wide powers. You are not exercising them. You can easily implement your guidelines well. We don’t find anything coming from you.”
Kamdar, after speaking to the additional municipal commissioner, said under the rules, BMC can and does issue show cause notices for non-compliances and later issues stop work orders. The High Court again said it wanted solutions that are implementable immediately, at 5 PM, to ensure compliance.
Dwarkadas suggested that if the BMC is unable to ensure compliance, it should stop granting more building permissions. Kamdar retorted how could the builders who were not violating any norms be punished. Dwarkadas said, “There is rampant construction, so stop giving permission for new constructions to put a break.” The Chief Justice orally said it was a “good suggestion” and again told the civic counsel to come back with concrete solutions, adding, “If we pass orders, there will be strictures against the commissioner. Come at 4 PM with a concrete proposal that you can implement immediately. Do not give us a five-year plan.”
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