New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 19) directed the National Capital Region (NCR) states to constitute teams to monitor effective implementation of the stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) after it was informed that the GRAP-IV measures were put in place following drastic increase in the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih, which was hearing air pollution matter, said that appointing members of the bar to monitor implementation of GRAP-IV was an ad-hoc measure and directed the NCR states to constitute teams for the same.
Members of team constituted by NCR states will work as the officers of court: SC
The bench said that the members of the team, which will comprise of police and revenue officials, to monitor effective implementation of the GRAP-IV stage will work as the officers of the court and will regularly submit report of compliance and breaches to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) so that immediate action be taken by all concerned.
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Apex court asked NCR states to not go into technicalities to deny subsistence allowance to workers
The apex court, while noting that there are more then one order passed by it to pay subsistence allowance to all workers affected due to the implementation of the GRAP IV stage, directed all NCR states to ascertain which are the workers affected by GRAP- IV stage. It asked the NCR states to not go into technicalities to deny the subsistence allowance to workers and warned that it will considers issuing contempt action against them if it is not done properly.
What did the apex court say earlier?
The court had earlier allowed the CAQM to go to GRAP-II stage from GRAP-IV stage in the NCR states following decline in the AQI levels, however, it had directed that the CAQM to immediately implement GRAP-III if the AQI level crosses 350 and GRAP-IV level if the AQI level crosses 400, as a precautionary measure.
The apex court earlier had earlier on December 2 refused to relax the emergency measures under the GRAP-IV stage to deal with air pollution in the national capital region, saying it wants to ensure that there is a downward trend of the AQI.
