SC rejects urgent hearing on plea against farm fires

NEW DELHI: Not everything is judicially manageable, the Supreme Court remarked on Thursday as it declined to grant an urgent hearing to a public interest litigation (PIL) demanding fresh guidelines on stubble burning and other urgent steps to curb the rising air pollution.

Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud expressed his indisposition to assign an immediate date of hearing to the PIL filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha, observing there are certain things which even a court cannot do.

Jha mentioned the matter before the CJI, complaining that his petition for issuance of fresh directives to check the worsening air quality in Delhi-ncr was to come up for a hearing on November 10, but was not listed.

“So, what’s your solution to this problem?” justice Chandrachud asked Jha, who responded that a ban on stubble burning needs to be imposed.

To this, the CJI retorted: “You think, it is going to stop then? Can we enforce such a ban against every farmer across Punjab and Uttar Pradesh? Let’s have some genuine solutions...there are some things courts are not judicially equipped to do.”

While Jha urged the bench to take up his plea for a detailed hearing, justice Chandrachud was not inclined. “We have heard you. We are not going to take it up immediately,” he said. On November 4, upon a request made by Jha, previous CJI Uday Umesh Lalit had said that his petition would be listed for a hearing on November 10. On that day, the then CJI observed: “No doubt, the situation definitely requires intervention...but we are only on whether that intervention should be under Article 32 (a PIL to enforce fundamental rights).”

To be sure, Delhi recorded the AQI of 447 on November 4 -- the highest this season so far -according to the daily 4pm bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that is taken as the day’s official reading.