NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said reintroducing the odd-even system for vehicles is a decision that fully rests with the Delhi government and the court has nothing to do with it, remarking the overnight rains in the city that reduced the extreme air pollution were because of the “prayers of the people” and no thanks to the government.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul reiterated its stand to immediately stop the crop-residue burning in the neighbouring states including Punjab. The bench was hearing a matter on the worsening air quality in the city during winter. “The decline (in pollution levels) must go on during the Diwali holidays,” it said.
The bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, said despite several committees, there were no results on the ground. It said it is not going to issue anything on the odd-even car control, asking the government not to put the burden on the court while the government is “non-performing.”
The court clarified that it had never said the odd-even should also apply to taxis entering Delhi. The odd-even issue came up in the previous hearing after an advocate, assisting it as amicus curiae, said that odd-even did not actually help reduce air pollution.
The counsel representing the Delhi government said taxis from adjoining states were required to be allowed into Delhi as commuting will become a major problem otherwise. Lakhs of people working in Delhi live in Noida and Gurugram.“I am agreeing with you. We never said that. Don’t try to non-perform and shift the burden to the court. This is what is happening,” Justice Kaul observed.
“All we flagged was an issue that the amicus was saying that this odd-even does not help. It has not proved to be of help. But you say now, we will implement odd-even and also implement odd-even on taxis. Did we ask you to implement odd-even on taxis? We did not ask you to implement it,” the bench said.In the previous hearing, the SC called for action against stubble-burning, which it said is one of the “substantial contributors” causing severe pollution.