Supreme Court strongly reprimands Punjab-Haryana governments on stubble issue, calls CAQM a toothless tiger

New Delhi : The Supreme Court has taken a tough stance regarding air pollution in the national capital Delhi due to stubble burning. The court on Wednesday strongly reprimanded the Haryana and Punjab governments for not prosecuting the violators in the stubble burning case. Along with this, the court has also asked the Chief Secretaries of both the states to appear before the court on October 23 and give clarification on this issue.

On Wednesday, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih directed the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to take punitive action against Haryana and Punjab government officials for failing to act against the violators. .

Chief Secretaries summoned

The bench said, “This is not a political matter. If the Chief Secretary is working on someone's instructions then we will issue summons against him also. Next Wednesday we will call the Chief Secretary and ask him everything. Nothing has been done, Punjab government also did the same. This attitude is one of complete disregard.”

Court's stern rebuke to Punjab government

The court also strongly reprimanded the Punjab government regarding this matter. The court said that not a single case has been filed against stubble burning in the state of Punjab in the last three years. The court said that the Punjab government did not make any efforts to provide tractors to the farmers nor did it try to ask for funds from the Center for this work.

Told CAQM as a toothless tiger.

The court also strongly reprimanded CAQM for failing to stop air pollution in Delhi due to stubble burning in neighboring states. The court said that CAQM is like a toothless tiger. Even before this, the court had reprimanded CAQM in this matter and said that it needs to adopt a more proactive attitude in this matter.

(with agency input)