Check if vehicles are complying with pollution norms: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi traffic police and the transport department to check whether the vehicles on the streets of the Capital are complying with the pollution norms or not.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said that there was a rampant violation of rules and thus there should be thorough checking of the vehicles.  

“There has to be some checking. Rules are being violated rampantly,” the bench said. It also posed a question to the authorities as to why regular checks are not being conducted to check the violations.

The court also observed that the police was not vigilant even with regard to violation of traffic rules as people can be seen talking on phones even while driving.

Appearing for the Delhi government, counsel Satyakam said that there were“enforcement issues”.

The court’s observation comes while hearing a petition which sought a ban on buses from other states in the Capital by private operators in contravention of the law. 

The plea has alleged inaction on the part of the transport department and the police.

During the proceedings, the AAP government informed the court that 680 buses from other states have been prosecuted for not carrying proper permits. Most of these vehicles are from Uttar Pradesh.    

The petition filed by Rashtriya Rajdhani Kshetra Tipahiya Chalak Union has claimed that a number of private buses and vehicles registered with the UP government, entered Delhi from different entry points and carried passengers without proper permits.

Earlier, the high court had considered the current weather as emergent and issued a slew of measures including water sprinkling, cloud seeding for artificial rainfall and an immediate ban on the construction activities to improve the conditions of ‘pea soup fog’, which it said had engulfed the city of London in 1952.