A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also questioned how the civic body had granted approvals to over 125 construction projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore in a city like Mumbai, observing that the situation had now gone beyond the BMC’s control
The court stressed that BMC must strengthen its mechanism so that measures to control pollution are preventive rather than remedial. File pic
The Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday strongly criticised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for turning a “blind eye” to the issue of air pollution in the city and for “not doing anything” to effectively address the problem, news agency PTI reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also questioned how the civic body had granted approvals to over 125 construction projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore in a city like Mumbai, observing that the situation had now gone beyond the BMC’s control.
The court warned the civic body that it would pass orders restraining it from granting further construction permissions if the air pollution situation continued to worsen, PTI reported.
“How can 125 projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore be sanctioned in such a small city? That is a lot. Now the situation has gone beyond your (BMC) control. Now you are not able to manage things,” the court said.
The bench stressed that the BMC must strengthen its mechanism so that measures to control pollution are preventive rather than remedial, PTI reported.
The observations were made while the court was hearing a batch of petitions highlighting concerns over the deteriorating air quality index (AQI) in Mumbai.
'There is no implementation plan,' Bombay High Court slams Mumbai civic corporation
“The BMC is not doing anything. Even the minimal requirement is not being done. You (BMC) don’t have anything in place. There is no implementation plan,” the court said, adding that the civic body had not applied its mind at all.
“The BMC is not working at all. There is no monitoring. The BMC has turned a blind eye to the issue,” the bench remarked, reiterating that pollution-control measures must be preventive in nature.
HC also noted that despite having wide powers, the BMC was not taking adequate action and expressed displeasure over the 91 squads deployed by the civic body failing to conduct inspections at construction sites.
Senior counsel SU Kamdar, appearing for the BMC, said 39 sites were inspected on Tuesday, adding that officers from the remaining squads were engaged in election duty.
The bench, however, said election duty could not be cited as an excuse. “You (BMC) can always make an application to the election commission seeking exemption,” it said.
Kamdar informed the court that the AQI on Wednesday stood at 88, which is considered satisfactory, and said the situation last year had been worse. The bench, however, observed that merely stating that pollution levels had reduced did not mean the BMC was functioning effectively.
When asked about the corporation’s plan for the next two weeks, BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who was present in court, said the squads would inspect a minimum of two construction sites per day and take necessary action.
The bench directed that the squads be equipped with button cameras and GPS devices and posted the matter for further hearing on January 20.
(With PTI inputs)
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