Thursday, January 14, 2016

SC refuses to hear a plea challenging 'odd-even' scheme in Delhi

day before the 'odd-even' scheme ends in Delhi, the Supreme Court has lent support to the scheme and has refused to hear a plea challenging it. 

Terming the plea as a publicity stunt, the apex court has said that the 'odd-even' policy is being implemented for the citizens of Delhi and that everyone must cooperate with it. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to implement the scheme as per the AAP government's plan till January 15.

The government is taking some step to control the pollution. People are dying due to pollution and you are challenging it for publicity," the bench, also comprising justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi, said.

The CJI also said that even judges are doing car pooling and such type of petitions are meant to frustrate the effort, it said, adding that it may impose "heavy cost".

"You see, we are doing car pooling, but you are not helping," the court said.

The court, however, said that it will ask authorities like DMRC to augment public transport system to ensure that the public does not face difficulty.

In December, 2015, the apex court had passed a slew of directions to curb pollution levels in the national capital, including ban on registration of diesel-run sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and high-end private cars with engine capacity of 2000 CC and above in Delhi and National Capital Region till March 31, 2016.

It had also directed 100 per cent hike of the Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) being levied on light and heavy commercial vehicles entering Delhi, saying that its directions were aimed at "mitigating hardship" of residents of Delhi "that has earned to it the dubious reputation of being the most polluted city in the world."

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