New Delhi, March 12 The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed of a 1985 Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning air pollution in Delhi and surrounding areas, and directed the court registry to file a suo moto case on issues of air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Several landmark judgments and orders were passed in the PIL filed by environmentalist M C Mehta in 1985 for the prevention, control, and management of pollution levels in the Delhi-NCR region and related issues.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi noted that several applications on various issues were filed in the PIL, and the court had issued directions on them from time to time.
The bench observed that during the previous hearing, the parties had pointed out that it was high time that the proceedings in the PIL be formally disposed of, and the petition be appropriately re-captioned.
"Considering the suggestions, we formally dispose of the writ petition," the bench said, adding that the apex court registry shall not entertain any interlocutory or miscellaneous applications in that petition.
"Instead, the registry is directed to file a suo moto case titled 'Re: Issues of air pollution in the National Capital Region'," the bench said.
The bench directed that all pending applications as of now be filed as writ petitions, and each interlocutory application be assigned a separate writ petition number.
The Supreme Court is seized of a range of issues related to pollution, including vehicular pollution, in the Delhi-NCR region.
In December last year, the Supreme Court described the pollution crisis in the region as an "annual feature" and called for pragmatic and practical solutions to tackle the menace.
