Delhi air pollution: SC warns AAP government of auditing its ad spend

With Delhi-NCR continuing to choke in toxic air for a week now, the Supreme Court today warned the Delhi government of an audit of ad spend over “passing the buck”, NDTV reported.

A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant heard a plea regarding Delhi’s rising pollution levels where the affidavit filed by the AAP government was presented.

When questioned about the measures Delhi government had taken towards road cleaning, their advocate suggested that MCD may be asked to file an affidavit detailing the same.

Justice Surya Kant said such “lame excuses” given by the state government will force the court to hold a “proper audit” of the revenues the government is earning and spending on popularity slogans. The bench accused Delhi government of “passing the buck” to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi when it came to mitigating the issue as well as blame sharing.

Additionally, Justice Chandrachud noted that “farmers were being blamed needlessly” as centre’s affidavit submitted to the court recorded that only 4 percent of the toxic air in the city is due to stubble burning, and called stubble burning an “insignificant” factor.

The Delhi government had informed the Supreme Court that it was ready to declare a lockdown but since the air had no boundary, the Centre had to bring all NCR states on board and declare a lockdown in the entire NCR region.

The court underlined today that pollution due to factories, transportation, dust, and some part of stubble burning are the major contributing factors.