M.C.MEHTAversusUNION OF INDIA & ORS

  A·                                     M.C.MEHTA
                                             v. "
                                 UNION OF INDIA & ORS ..

                                        MAYl2,1998
                                                                          ! • :

  B              [DR. A.S. ANAND, B.N. KIRPALAND V.I{. KHARE, JJ.]


                Constitutjo.n of India, 1950 :

               . Articles. 21, 47 and 48A-'-Stat<r-Obligatitm-lmprovement of Public
  C Health and. Protection of Environment-'-Supreme Court-Directions given
     for tackling problems arising out of chaotic traffic conditions and vehicular
    ·pollutiof>-c"But unsatisfactory performance by concerned authorities-Lack
     of manpower pleaded by concerned authorities-Ensuring compliance of
     directions b"JJ Supreme Court-Appointment of Court Officers-Authorities to
  D submit list ofpersons from each of the nine Police Districts for appointment-
     Authorities also to suggest the manner in which appointees would discharge
     their obligation-Ministry of Peiroleum and Ministry ofSurface Transport to
     file affidavits disclosing the steps taken for supply of lead free petrol and the
      use of catalytic convertor on vehicles-Committee set up by Court's earlier
      order to submit a report abo,ut the action taken by the Committee for controlling
• E vehicular pollution and. the. connected matters as weli as the draft action
     plan to tackle the situation.

            Article 144-'-State-Duty to comply with directions issued by Supreme
       Court.                               ·    "

  F          CIVIL ORIG[NAL JURISDICTION.: Writ Petition (C) No. 13029 of
       1985. "

                (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).

  G
                                                       '
              Altaf Ahmad, Additional Solicitor Ge~eral, Harlsh N. Salve, (A.C.), Uday
        Umesh Lalit, (A.C.), P.P. Malhotra, G.L. Sanghi, Shanti Bhushan, Dr. Rajeev
   · -~ Dhawan., Manoj Prasad, Wasi.m A. Quadri, Ms. Niranjana Singh, S.N. Sikka,
        Anil ~tiyar, A.D.N. Rao; P. Panneshwaran, Ms. Indira Sawhney, Ms. Anubha
        Jain, Arvind Kr. Sharma, K.P. Mittal, Sushi! Kumar Jain, A.P. Dharnija, N.B.
        Khatiwada, Umesh Bohare, Hardeep Singh Anand, Shri Narain, Ashok Mathur,
  H R.K. Maheshwari, Ranjit Kumar, R.P. Gupta, Vijay Panjwani, Neeraj Sharma,
           "               "                     340
       '
                             M.C. MEHTA v. U.0.1.                              341
    Vineet Kumar, K.K. Gupta, Ms. Sheela Goel, L.K. Pandey, A.K. Sharma, S.B.         A
· - Upadhyay, S.R. Setia, Sanjay Parkh, Mahavir Singh, Dinesh Kumar Garg, Ms.
    Smitha Inna, D.S. Mehra, Pramod B. Agarwala, Ms. Praveena Gautam, for the
    appearing parties.

        The following Order of the Court was delivered :
                                                                                      B
          This Court has, keeping in view the mandate of Articles 47 & 48A of
  the Constitution of India, issued directions from time to time with a view to
  tackle the problem arising out of chaotic traffic conditions and vehicular
  pollution. We are not satisfied with the performance of the concerned
  authorities in tackling the acute problem of vehicular pollution and traffic        C
  regulations in Delhi. Environmental protection appears to have taken a back
  seat. In fact we are distressed to find that the directions given by this Court,
  from time to time, have not evoked the response they were expected to evoke.
  When this Court gave those directions it treated it as a legal issue and
  proceeded to examine the impact of the right flowing from Article 21 of the
  Constitution oflndia viz-a-viz decline in environmental quality. Law casts an       D
  obligation on the State to improve public health and protect and improve the
  environment. The directions issued by this Court were aimed at making the
  State to effectively discharge their obligations. In their response the Delhi
  Administration and the Union of India have pleaded, among other factors,
  lack of man power to deal with the growing menace of chaotic traffic and
  decline in the environmental quality.                                               E

         the directions issued by this Court are meant to be complied with and
  we wish to emphasise that it is the obligation of the State to comply with the
   same. On our part, we are considering the desirability of appointing Court
  Officers to assist the administration with a view to ensure compliance of the F
  directions issued by this Court. Article 144 of the Constitution of India
  provides "All authorities, civil and judicial, in the territory of India shall act
  in aid of the Supreme Court." We have suggested to learned counsel for the
  parties to give us a list of persons from every colony/area in each of the 9
  Police Districts of Delhi, who may be appointed as such Court Officers and
  suggest the manner in which they can assist the administration to carry out G
  its obligations. This exercise by the Court, we clarify would be with a view
  to supplement and augment the efforts of the Delhi Administration and the
  Union of India to deal with the acute problem. Let the needful be done in ten
  weeks.

       The learned Additional Solicitor General is also directed to have affidavits   H
    342                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [1998] 3 S.C.R.

A filed from the Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Surface Transport to
    disclose the steps taken for supply of lead free petrol and the use of catalytic   _.
    convertor on the new as well as existing vehicles so as to use lead free petrol
    throughout the country. The status report in this behalf together with the
    affidavits shall be filed within ten weeks.

B         On 7th January, 1998 a Committee had been constituted under the
    Chairmanship of Shri Bhure I .al, known as "Environment Pollution (Prevention
    and Control) Authority for the National Capital Region''. We have so far not
    received any report from that Committee. A direction shall issue to the
    Committee to submit a report about the action taken by the Committee for
C   controlling vehicular pollution and the connected matters. The Committee
    may also submit a draft action plan to tackle the situation. The needful shall
    be done within ten weeks.

          List the matters after ten weeks.

D T.N.A.                                                     Petition still pending.




                  •