Public Interest Litigation as Environmental Policy Making:
A Case Study of banning diesel fuel for public transports in Delhi, India
A Research Paper presented by:
Hage Tari
(India)
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Specialization:
Public Policy and Management
(PPM)
Members of the examining committee:
Dr Sunil Tankha
Supervisor
Dr Venkat Raman Second Reader
The Hague, The Netherlands
December, 2012
Disclaimer:
This document represents part of the author’s study programme while at the Institute of Social
Studies. The views stated therein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the
Institute.
Inquiries:
Postal address:
Institute of Social Studies
P.O. Box 29776
2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands
Location:
Kortenaerkade 12
2518 AX The Hague
The Netherlands
Telephone:
+31 70 426 0460
Fax:
+31 70 426 0799
ii
Contents
List of Tables
v
List of Figures
v
List of Maps
v
List of Appendices
v
List of Acronyms
vi
Abstract
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1
1.1
Justification of Research
2
1.2
Research Objective
3
1.3
Scope and Limitations
3
1.4
Methodology and Data Collection
3
1.4.1
The data collection through interview:
4
1.5
Structure of Paper
5
Chapter 2
Public Interest Litigation-Theoretical Framework
5
2.1
Evolution of New Jurisprudence
5
2.2
Group Theory
8
2.3
Declining of institutions
8
2.4
Regulation failure
9
2.5
Theory of information revolution
9
Chapter 3
Triggers of Public Interest Litigation.
10
3.1
Environmental degradation in Delhi.
10
3.2
Government Apathy
12
3.3
Lack of Enforcement
14
3.4
Judicial Activism
14
3.5
Role of Media and Civil Society
16
iii
3.6
Role of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority 17
Chapter 4
Cognizance of Public Interest Litigation
19
4.1
Interim Order of Supreme Court
19
4.2
Responses of government and other stakeholders
20
4.3
Resistance from Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
21
4.4
Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and
bus chassis manufacturers
22
4.5
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)
22
4.6
Oil Companies
23
4.7
Court dismissal of representation of MoP&NG
23
Chapter 5
Impact on environmental policy making.
25
5.1
Court Judgement on Public Interest Litigation
25
5.2
Last ditch resistance of government
26
5.3
The Supreme Court order
26
5.4
Implementation of court order
27
5.5
Achievement of Public Interest Litigation
29
5.6
Future Plan of CNG expansion
31
Chapter 6
conclusion
32
6.1
Public Interest Litigation as policy tool
32
6.2
PIL and judicial activism
32
6.3
Civil Society and media
33
6.4
Limitation of PIL
34
6.5
Conclusion
35
Maps
36
Appendices
37
References
40
iv
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Emission benefit of Replacing Conventional Diesel with CNG in Buses
30
Table 1.2. Gas Authority of India (GAIL) future plan: The Road Ahead
31
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Air Pollutant Emission in Delhi 1991-95
11
Figure 1.2 Source of Air Pollution
11
Figure 1.3 Delhi Air Pollution 2000-08
13
List of Maps
Map of Delhi and India
36
List of Appendices
Appendix 1
Photo shows the growing number of Vehicle in Delhi Road
37
Appendix 2
Photo Shows the three organs of the Republic of India
38
Appendix 3
Photo shows air pollution in Rajpath, New Delhi
39
v
List of Acronyms
CNG-Compressed Natural Gas
CO-Carbon Mono oxide
CPCB-Centre Pollution Control Board
CSE-Centre for Science and Environment
CSIR- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
DPCC- Delhi Pollution Control Committee
EPA- Environment (Protection) Act
EPCA- Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority
GOI-Government of India
IGL-Indraprashta Gas Agency
MOEF-Ministry of Environment and Forest
MoPP&NG-Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
NCT-National Capital Territory
NGO-Non -Governmental Organisation
NO-Nitrogen Oxide
PIL - Public Interest Litigations
PPM – Parts Per Million
PUC-Pollution Under Control Certificate
RPM- Respirable Particulate Matters
SC –Supreme Court
SIAM-Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers
SO-Sulphur Dioxide
SPM- Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM)
TERI- Tata Energy Research Institute
TTZ- Taj Trapezium Zone
vi
Abstract:
The division of power among Executive, Legislature and Judiciary have been clearly laid down in
the constitution of India for discharging constitutional responsibilities. In spite of this division of
power the policy making and its enforcement are very frequently done in India through court
intervention which otherwise it falls under the jurisdiction of executive organ. This kind of
phenomenon has been witnessed in most of the time particularly on environmental issues
because of the failure on the part of the government in discharging constitutional responsibilities
such as protecting the fundamental rights of the citizen enshrined in part III of the constitution
of India. Thus the aggrieved public pulled up the government inaction through filing a series of
public interest litigation in the court. One such example was Delhi vehicular pollution case in
which the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) could be successfully introduced for all commercial
transport of Delhi because of the conscious intervention made by judiciary, civil society and
media which otherwise the government could not have been possible.
In this study, therefore the paper has attempted to investigate to what extent the environmental
policy making has been determined by the PIL with special reference to the Delhi vehicular
pollution case.The paper also examined the role of various stakeholders during the process of
policy implementation. Despite resounding success of PIL the same has been criticized for
overreaching of judicial activism.The paper concludes with note that environmental policy
making required an integrated approach to resolve the vexed issues of institutional problems.
Relevance to Development Studies
The ultimate power lies with the citizen in the parliamentary democratic system of governance.
To fulfil the aspiration of citizen the mechanism has been inbuilt to have a system of checks and
balances among the various organs of the governance consisting of executive, legislature and
judiciary which have been enshrined in the constitution. When the executive failed to discharge
the governance the public seek a justice through Judiciary. The Public Interest Litigation is one
such mechanism through which the people of India get redressed their grievance when the
executive failed to discharge their constitutional responsibilities. The environmental pollution is
one such instance where the government failed to enforce effectively despite having an
innumerable legislation of environmental laws. Therefore the judiciary as guardian of the statutes
were forced to intervene in the arena of governance on policy making and enforcement which
otherwise is a domain of executive. Therefore the Public Interest Litigation has become a
significant tool for environmental policy making in India since 1990s.The success story of the
Public Interest Litigation in Delhi vehicular pollution case has drawn the attention of all over the
world which has generated an interesting forum for development studies.
Keywords
Public Interest Litigation, Judicial Activism, Environmental Policy, Civil Society, Supreme Court,
Vehicular Pollution,
vii
“Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns”.
-Plato
Chapter 1
Introduction
The success story of switching over to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in place of diesel fuel
for all public transport in Delhi was a result of long drawn battle of Public Interest Litigation
(PIL) in the Supreme Court.The Public Interest Litigation was filed before the Supreme Court by
environmental lawyers MC Mehta in way back 1985 invoking the Right to Life under Article 21
of the constitution of India.The PIL petition prayed before the Court to issue direction for
closing down of hazardous industries located in the densely populated areas of Delhi and for
regulation of air pollution caused by automobiles operating in the area. Based on PIL the
Supreme Court gave a judgment by directing government for converting all public transport in
the capital to CNG and dispenses the using of diesel fuel in spite of steep resistance from
various stakeholders.
In compliance to the direction given by the Supreme Court the Centre Government and
Government of NCT Delhi have not only formulated a comprehensive environmental policy
with an action plan to combat air pollution in the city but also enforced the same in later and
spirit.As part of implementation of court order the government of NCT of Delhi not only
discarded entire fleet of beyond 15 year old public buses but also but also switch over to CNG
mode for entire public transport of Delhi since 1st December 2002.
The increasing intervention of Court in the on environmental governance issue has been
seen because of failure (Sahu 2008) on the part of implementing agencies to discharge their
Constitutional and Statutory duties.These raises a number of important question such as why
the PIL have become a major tool for environmental policy making which otherwise the policy
making and enforcement falls under the domain of administration.
Therefore in this paper the attempt has been made to answer the main research question
that why has public interest litigation emerged as a frequently used tool to drive environmental
policy in India?
The attempt has been made to analyse with reference to the following sub questions:
i)
ii)
iii)
Is the judicial activism motivated PIL on environmental issues?
Is the lack of discharging constitutional duty by the Executive & legislature of
Govt.of NCT of Delhi led to the Public Interest Litigation?
Is the role of civil society and media also contributed for motivating the Public
interest litigation on environmental issues?
The study concludes with a note that the Public interest Litigation have become an
important instrument in motivating environmental policy making in India in absence of effective
enforcement agencies. This happened despite exist an innumerable environmental legislation.
1
1.1
Justification of Research
The success story of Public Interest Litigation in India has been drawn the attention of not only
within the country but also all over the world. The introduction of CNG for all commercial
transport in Delhi city through PIL has been recognised as major achievement in India. This has
been emulated by other developing countries those who have been facing a similar
environmental challenges. For example a similar lawsuits have been filed in Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Philippines, among others by citing the achievement
done in Delhi as a model. (Bell et al. 2004).
The increasing intervention of Court on environmental issues has been seen as a result
of government failure to discharge their Constitutional responsibilities.Therefore the pro-active
role of the court has been seen as to uphold the rule of law, enforce fundamental rights of the
citizens and aimed to improve the environment protection. In this regards (Rajamani 2007a:1)
stated that
‘In a system in which policy-makers and law-enforcers are perceived as apathetic, if not corrupt, and
politicians are perceived as opportunistic demagogues rather than as visionary leaders, the Supreme Court of India
has assumed the mantle of a ‘Supreme Court for Indians’ and a ‘last resort for the oppressed and bewildered’.
In India the PIL has been treated as constitutional (Deva 2009) but not civil litigation.
The PIL has been seen as an attempt to fulfil the promised (Desai,Muralidhar,2000) guaranteed
in the constitution of India like fundamental rights and directive principle of State Policy which
otherwise promised would have remained in paper for the majority of illiterate and ignorant
citizens. Therefore PIL has been seen not only as social action litigation (Gauri 2011) but also
an innovative judicial procedure for improving the social and economic rights of disadvantaged
groups in the society. Among other the right to life has been guaranteed under article 21 the
Constitution of India which says:
“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by
law”
1
The certain policies which are to be followed by State for the promotion of welfare of
the citizens are enshrined under Directive Principle of State Policy2 in part IV of the constitution
of India. Although this provision is not enforceable in the court of law yet the State cannot
ignore its obligation. While admitting PIL the Supreme Court always kept these two constitution
provision viz.Fundamental Rights and Directive Principle of State Policy in mind. The motive
behind the filing of PIL on environmental issues has always been banged upon these two
constitutional provisions because of the failure of the state to implement.
1. Enshrined under Part III of the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of India.
2. Provides under Article 36-51 of Constitution of India.
2
For example in Delhi Vehicular Pollution case3 the MC Mehta filed a PIL before
Supreme Court invoking under Article 21 of the Constitution of India challenging the inaction
on the part of the Union of India, Delhi Administration and other Authorities in controlling
highly toxic air pollution due to which the lives of the many people in Delhi were put to high risk
especially in thickly populated areas where most of the hazardous industries were functioning.
Thus the Petitioner prayed before the Supreme court for issuing an and appropriate
directions to the owners of vehicles which is emitting toxic air pollution such a carbon
monoxides,etc from their vehicles. Therefore this study has attempted to find out what
prevented the government from enforcing environmental policy through normal course of
action without court intervention and reasons for PIL become a source of an environmental
policy making.
1.2
Research Objective
The objective of this paper has been focussed to explore how the PILs have become an
empowering tool for an ordinary citizen on the one hand and shaped environmental policies on
the other. Otherwise the policy making, enforcement and legislation falls under the domain of
executive and legislature respectively. A case study of Delhi Vehicular Pollution litigation has
been made to show that how the PIL become have a source of environmental policy making.
1.3
Scope and Limitations
The research work has been carried out with reference to the available secondary document and
personal interviews. Good numbers of information could be accessed either through website and
official records. However the limitation includes non –availability of comprehensive data
compilation on PIL cases exclusively on environmental issues. More over those people who had
deeply involved in the Delhi Vehicular Pollution case either could not be easily accessed or some
are no more exist in this world. Therefore the exact numbers of PIL cases admitted by the court
on environmental issues could not be ascertained. On the other hand the some of the
enforcement agencies are reluctant to reveal the data pertaining to implementation of court order
in fear of prosecution.
1.4
Methodology and Data Collection
The study relied in this research paper are mostly through literature review, analysing secondary
documents, field research,4 official website and reports with an objective to analyse the impact of
Public Interest Litigation on environment policy and specific achievement. The qualitative
research methodology has been followed to analyse why and how Public Interest Litigation have
been more effective in motivating environmental policy making than normal course of action.
3. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13029 of 1985. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India & Others
4.Data Collected through personal interview concern department official of Govt.of NCT Delhi and NGO’s.
3
1.4.1
The data collection through interview:
The field data collection have been made from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)5 who
has been associated as the member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control)
Authority (EPCA).6 The other important source of data collection have been made from Govt.of
NCT of Delhi like Pollution Control wing of Delhi Transport Department who is responsible
for monitoring and enforcement of the Delhi Vehicular Pollution in the Capital. The Delhi
Pollution Control Committee is an another authority who is responsible for monitoring and
enforcement of industrial pollution in Delhi city.The data collection has been made through
conducting semi structure interview.
a)
The interview was held with Executive Director of CSE to find out following:
i) Why the PIL was necessary to file before the Supreme Court on environmental
pollution issues?
ii) Whether the objective of the PIL has been achieved or otherwise.
iii) How far the PIL of Delhi Vehicular Pollution case has motivated
environmental policy making?
on
b)
The interview was held with Pollution Control Officer of the Delhi Transport
Department to find out following information:
i)
How far the Court order of Delhi Vehicular Pollution case has been
complied by the enforcement agencies?
ii)
How far the PIL is more effective than normal administrative action when
come to the policy implementation on environmental policy issues?
iii)
Why the government could not able to take proactive measure to combat
environmental pollution instead of getting enforced through PIL?
c)
The interview was held with Delhi Pollution Control Committee to find out
following information:
i)
As an enforcement agencies on pollution what are the difficulties encountered
while carrying out court order?
ii) To find out the major achievement done due to PIL.
Iii) To find out the adequacy of power delegated to enforcement agencies.
Besides the brief interview has also been held with Supreme Court Lawyer to ascertain
availability of data pertaining to Public Interest Litigation.
5. Centre for Science and Environment is a Delhi based NGO who spare headed the campaign against Vehicular
Pollution in Delhi.
6. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) was constituted by the Ministry of
Environment and Forest, Govt.of India as per direction of Supreme Court.
4
1.5
Structure of Paper
The background of this paper has been mentioned in introductory part followed by
justification of Research and brief methodology are highlighted in chapter 1. The public Interest
Litigation and theoretical framework has been discussed in the Chapter 2. The factors that
attributed for triggering in filing of PIL are examined in chapter 3.The court cognisance of PIL
government response, resistance of various stakeholders are examined in chapter 4.
A special reference has been made about Public Interest Litigation of Delhi Vehicular
Pollution case. In the Chapter 5 the Court judgement and impact of PIL are analysed. The
potential limitation of PIL and conclusions are highlighted in chapter 6. In the discourse it has
been suggested that the formulation of environmental policy and its implementation can be
effective only when the policy is formulated through an integrated approach such as empowering
the citizen rather than single approach like PIL.
Chapter 2
2.1.
Public Interest Litigation –A Theoretical Framework
Evolution of New Jurisprudence
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India has emerged as major source of environmental
policy making in terms of bringing the government into accountable and discharge constitutional
duties. The PIL which came into being in early 1980s is one of the most powerful weapons
invented by the Court (Bhagwati 1984) with an objective to deliver distributive justice to the
disadvantaged groups of people in the society. The words of justice P N Bhagwati then the
former Chief Justice of India:
Epistolary jurisdiction was a major breakthrough achieved by the Supreme Court in bringing justice closer to the
large masses of people. The Court for a long time had remained the preserve of the rich and the well-to-do, and had
been used only for the purpose of protecting the rights of the privileged classes. As a result of this innovative use of
judicial power, however, the portals of the Court are thrown open to the poor, the ignorant and the illiterate, and
their cases have started coming before the Court through public interest litigation.
The Supreme Court of India allowed any member of a public or social organization to
move the Court by just addressing a letter on behalf of the disadvantaged class of persons which
was known as "epistolary jurisdiction".7 A letter addressed by individual or organisation to the
Court can legitimately be regarded as an appropriate proceeding within the meaning of Article 32
2 of the Constitution (Bhagwati 1984).
The power of public interest litigation in India has been seen as liberation (Lavanya,2007)
from the traditional judicial proceedings. Public Interest Litigation is described as legal tools
which allow individuals, groups and communities to challenge government decisions and
activities in a court of law for the enforcement of the public interest.
7. Lecture on 'Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigation’, by Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court India.
5
The environmental policy making in India has been determined by Public Interest
Litigation mostly because of the lack of discharging constitutional responsibilities by the
government on the one hand and the judicial activism initiated by the higher Judiciary like
Supreme Court of India on the other.The PIL become a convenient tool for shaping
environmental policy making because of weak enforcement shown by the government. It is not
to say that India lacks an environmental legislation. There is no dearth (Agarwal 2005) of
environmental legislation in India.
Since early 1980s, the court could be seen in dealing with range of environmental issues
such as pollution by hazardous industries, protection and conservation of forests, urban and
solid waste management, vehicular pollution, protection and conservation of wild life (Sangeeta,
1997).The role of judiciary in environmental governance is examined in this study in terms of
judiciary intervention in the environmental policy making process as well as its role in the
implementation of existing environmental laws and shaping its implementation process.
Therefore a brief review (Sahu,2007) of certain selected environmental cases have been
highlighted here in order to understand different dimensions of how judiciary influence policymaking or shaped implementing the environmental policy.
Doon Valley Lime Stine Quarrying Case: This is the first case of its kind in India, relating to
environment and ecological balance. The petition was filed by the local NGO named Rural
Litigation and Entitlement Kendra and others against the State of Uttar Pradesh.8 The main
allegations therein related to unauthorized and illegal mining operations carried on in the
Mussoorie Hills and the area around adversely affecting the ecology of the area and leading to
environmental disturbances. In this case, the Court made an implicit reference to Article 214 of
the Constitution by recognizing right to healthy environment as part of fundamental right to life.
In response to the Doon Valley case,the Union Government took necessary steps to include the
Doon Valley under ecological fragile area.
Ganga Water Pollution case and Bhopal Gas Tragedy Case: In both the cases, the
intervention of judiciary has resulted in evolution of various policies (for example, ‘polluters pay
principle’ and ‘absolute liability’).In response to Ganga Water Pollution case9 the Central
Government had formulated a master plan called Ganga Action Plan in July 1986. The Public
Liability Insurance Act, 1991 came into being as a response to Bhopal Gas Tragedy.10 Further
due to the active intervention of judiciary the agency like Central Pollution Control Board has
also been activated.
8.AIR, 1987 SC 395: Doon Valley Lime-Stone Quarrying Case-Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra and others
v. State of Uttar Pradesh, Writ Petition No. 8209 and 8821 of 1983.
9. AIR 1115, 1988 SCR (2) 530. M.C. Mehta vs Union of India & Ors
10. AIR 1990, SC 273. Union Carbide Corporation Vs. Union of India,
6
Taj Trapezium Case: The writ Petition was filed by M.C.Mehta,11 Advocate as a public interest
litigation regarding pollution caused to the Taj Mahal in Agra. The petitioner alleged that the
sources of air pollution in Agra region12 were caused by iron foundries, ferro-alloys industries,
rubber processing, lime processing, engineering, chemical industries, brick kilns, refractory units
and automobiles. The Petitioner also alleged that distant sources of pollution were the Mathura
Refinery and Ferozabad bangles and glass industries.
It was also stated that the sulphur dioxide emitted by the Mathura Refinery and the
industries located in Agra and Ferozabad when combined with moisture in the atmosphere
forms sulphuric acid and causes "acid rain" which has a corroding effect on the gleaming white
marble. The industrial and refinery emissions from brick kilns, vehicular traffic and generator
sets were alleged primarily responsible for polluting the ambient air in and around Taj Trapezium
Zone (TTZ) as identified by the Central Pollution Control Board
Therefore the Supreme Court directed for switching over 292 industries into to the
natural gas as an industrial fuel before 15.2.1997 failing which they may relocate themselves
elsewhere.Further the court directed those industries to stop from functioning with the aid of
coke/coal in the TTZ. As a result none of the 292 industries is using coal/coke as fuel. The
Central Board has also established four ambient air quality monitoring stations in Agra and these
stations have been commissioned in the month of January, 2002. Monitoring reports are being
submitted to the Supreme Court on regular basis since February, 2002.
PIL came into emerge as an important tool for policy discourses on environmental issues
in India. Since the emergence of PIL in late 1980s the increasing number of PIL case had
considerable influenced on Environmental policy process. In this section some of the leading
PIL case in India has been highlighted to show that how the PIL have become a source of
environmental policy making in the case of Doon Valley Lime Stine Quarrying, Ganga Water
Pollution case, Bhopal Gas Tragedy case and Taj Trapezium Case.
Therefore this paper examined how PIL have become determinant factors for making
environmental policy with special reference to the case study of Delhi Vehicular Pollution.13 The
paper also examined the factor that attributed for filing of PIL on environmental issues. Some of
the major factors which were responsible for triggering in filing PIL are, failure of discharging of
constitutional responsibilities, lack of effective enforcement of environmental laws by the
government, judicial activism, role of civil society and media.
11. Writ Petition No.13381/1984. Taj Pollution Matter: M.C.Mehta Vs. Union of India and Others
12.Agra region is located in Utter Pradesh State.
7
2.2
Group theory
The logic of group theory (Olson and Olson 1965) says that” most of the action taken
by or on behalf of group of individuals is taken through organisation, it will be helpful to
consider organisation in general”.But the organisation has the purpose.Among other one of the
purpose of organisation has always been in economic aspect to serve the interest of their
members.To link this theory in Indian context the question arises is that why the welfare interest
of the common citizen are not fulfilled and they are made to pull up the government through
mechanism like public interest litigation and protest despite having an elaborative set up of
organisation like Excutive,legislature and judiciary which exist to lookafter in the interest of
common citizen in whose hand the ultimate power lies in democratic type of institution.
For example there are innumerable numbers of legislation on environmental policy but
it did not deter from continuous rising of air pollution in the heart of Capital Delhi where all the
Ministries of the government are located. It shows there is a serious flaw in the organisation itself
due to which the there is a flooded filing of Public Interest litigation in the High Court as well as
Supreme. Unless the organisation set up with an objective to serve in the interest of few this kind
of litigation would not have arisen. Therefore the serious retrospection is required of the existing
institutions to meet the challenges of large scale need in India like vast country where diversity is
the reality rather than relying only through PIL method to bring lasting solution of the
environmental problem.
2.3
Declining of institutions
One of the main argument given by the Oliver Mendelson was that the Supreme Court is
the most trusted institution in India due to the fast declining of the prestige of the other
institutions including politician and bureaucracy. The court itself is responsible for rising the
popularity because of the fact that public look for the last resort of justice through court.The
popularity of court grew more in further declining of other institutions. In India most of the
enforcement on environmental laws and policy are effectively carried out only after intervention
either High Court or Supreme Court Take the example of Taj Corridor case,Ganga Pollution
case, Doon Valley Lime Stone case or Delhi Vehicular Pollution case etc.13
Although not enforceable unlike fundamental rights in the court of law the Indian Constitution
provides for discharging certain welfare responsibilities to the State under Directive Principle of
State Policy which includes Rights to adequate means of livelihood.In absence of effective
enforcement by the public authorites on environmental issues like air water and land the series of
PIL filed by the MC Mehta caught the public imagination in National Capital.Therefore the PIL
has become a potent tool for public grievance seeking mechanism and Supreme Court became
fulcrum of citizen and government.
13.ibid Chap.2:6-7
8
2.4
Regulation failure
In India the lack of political will couple with bureaucratic sluggish mostly contributed for bad
governance. ‘in a system in which policy-makers and law-enforcers are perceived as apathetic, if
not corrupt, and politicians are perceived as opportunistic demagogues rather than as visionary
leaders’(Rajamani 2007a) due to which the public deliverance become an weak and that led to the
intervention of court through PIL.
Therefore this paper has attempted a framework to analyse the efficacy of Public Interest
Litigation and (Raja and Rathinam 2005) as an alternative mode of environmental policy making
because of regulatory failure on the one hand and an efficient method to redress the public
grievance in faster manner than through normal legal course of action on the other. However the
paper also attempted to highlight the limitation of PIL as an alternative strategy to resolve the
Environmental problem.
The failure of regulation suffers from mainly of two reasons. Firstly the legislative
authorities (Raja and Rathinam 2005) are being“captured” by the powerful interest groups or
lack of enforcing the laws enacted by the designated enforcing authorities. Influencing the
authority can be through exerting pressure during the time of legislation in order to dilute the law
so as to minimize the expected damages to their interests. Secondly the regulation fails if the
enforcing agency is not conferred with enough power to implement what they are supposed to
exercise or when the enforcement mechanism is corrupt and the enforcing agent succumbs to
issuing false certificates for example in exchange for bribes.Therefore the problems lies with
implementation and the dilution of the law on books that seems to be the major obstacles to
conventional regulations not being in the public interest. (Raja and Rathinam 2005).
2.5
Theory of information revolution
According to the Wilson the ‘massive structural changes constitute into information
revolution ‘.The theory suggested that the strategy such as shift from public to private ownership
and monopoly to competition is driven by the information to deflect the apathy of reforms.In
order to have structural changes the information revolution need to be infused among individual
and organisation level.Some of the fundamental changes taking place in today’s world are
because of information communication technology. In Indian context the theory can easily be
applied to have better transparent and accountability. The country like India where few privileges
population control the vast resources and institution established to meet these ends could be
diffused through information revolution.
For example the information technology can penetrate not only within the local but also
in global level. This brings comparative advantages among the individual and the organisation. In
Country like India where the almost half the population live below poverty line and around 25 %
live on illiteracy and adopting capitalist model market aggravate the policy maker on subject like
environmental protection. Therefore dysfunction and ineffective institution can be countered
through such theory like information revolution.
9
Chapter 3
3.1
Triggers of Public Interest Litigation.
Environmental degradation in Delhi.
The effect of environmental pollution on public health in Delhi had begun with, a
leakage of oleum gas which took place in December 1985,in one of the unit of the Shriram
Foods and Fertilizer Industries in Delhi. The gas leakage affected a large number of persons,
including workmen and the public. One of the practicing lawyers in the Tis Hazari Court also
died because of inhalation of oleum gas. This leakage created a panic amongst the people
residing in nearby industries. Within a span of two days, another minor gas leakage, took place
from the same industry. Prior to this incident another major disaster of Bhopal Gas tragedy
occurred in 1984 from American multinational Union Carbide Corporation where 2500
(Abraham and Abraham 1991) people were killed due to the leakage of highly toxic substance
called methyl isocynate ("MIC").
The rapid growth of Delhi had resulted in significant increase in environmental pollution.
According to the Government of India white Paper on Delhi Pollution, the Delhi had a
population of 94.21 lakhs as per 1991 census, of which 30% of the population lives in squatter
settlements. The number of industrial units had increased to more than 1,25,000 in 1991 from
8000 in 1951. The vehicular population had increased to 26.29 lakhs in 1996 from 2.35 lakhs in
1975.
Vehicular pollution contributes 67% of the total air pollution load (approximately 3,000
mt per day) in Delhi. Another 25% of air pollution is generated by industries and coal based
thermal power plants. The three power plants in Delhi generate 6000 mt of fly ash per day.
drains are discharging about 1,900 mld of municipal sewage and waste water into the river
Yamuna. The industrial effluent load is 320 mld. Municipal solid waste generation is estimated to
be 5,000 mt per day. In certain localities noise levels are attaining alarming levels.
The rise of environmental pollution in Delhi damages (Kathuria 2002)to the health due
to cause by air pollutants like suspended particulate matter (SPM) or respirable particulate
matters (RPM) or sulphur dioxide (SO2). The effects of pollutants include mortality of
premature death as well as increases in the incidence of chronic heart and lung disease.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 4 to 8 percent of deaths occurred annually
in the world are related to air pollution. Further World Health Organisation has identified SPM
as the most damaging air pollution constituents in terms of its effect on health
In Delhi, the data in figure 1.1 shows that total 3,000 metric tonnes of vehicular air
pollutants were released every day in 1995.The figure also shows the consecutive rise of pollution
level. The source of different pollutant in Delhi are also shown in figure1. 2 which indicates that
the maximum source of pollution were generated from vehicle emission which constitutes two
third of the pollutants released. The weak enforcement of environmental laws couple with a lack
of implementation of environmental policy was mostly responsible for deteriorating of air
pollution in Delhi and increasing filing of PIL before the Court.
10
Figure-1.1
Air pollutants emission of Delhi in 1991-95
3500
3000
Metric Tonnes
2500
2000
1500
Series 1
1000
500
0
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Year
Source: CPCB, Ministry of Environment & Forest, GOI.
Figure 1.2
Sources of Air Pollution in Delhi in 1990s
12%
8%
Vehicle
13%
Coal based thermal power plant
67%
Industrial units
Domestic
Source: Centre Pollution Control Board,GOI
11
3.2
Government Apathy
Since the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 onwards the conscious attempt was made to
protect the environment at international level. As per Stockholm Declaration declaration the
respective State was given responsibility to make legislation on environmental protection.
Accordingly the Parliament by amending the Constitution in 1976 had inserted an Article 48A
and 51A in the Constitution itself which directs the State to protect and improve the
environment of the country. In addition to that the clause (g) of Article 51A of the Constitution
imposes a duty on every citizen of India to protect the environment which includes forest, lakes,
river and wildlife.
There are having more than 200 Central and State legislations in India which deal with
environmental issues. Some of the existing major environmental legislation are highlighted here
viz. the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972,the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
1974,the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977,the Forest (Conservation)
Act, 1980 the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,the Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986,the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995
and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.
Even Ministry of Environment and Forest was created in 1985.Thus there is no reason to
believe (Raja and Rathinam 2005) that an absence of law is responsible for the environmental
problems in India. However the problem lies with implementation and the dilution of the law on
books that appears to be the major obstacles to conventional regulations not being in the public
interest.
In spite of innumerable environmental laws and government-initiated policies existed to
combat environment pollution, the Delhi city suffered for decades from declining air quality and
gained the dubious distinction of being the fourth most polluted city in the world in 1990s. . The
air quality began to decline in Delhi since mid-1980s. As per study conducted by World Bank in
1992 it was estimated that the annual health costs of ambient air pollution in Delhi were about
10 billion Indian Rupees or about U.S. $200 million (Bell et al. 2004).Further as per study
conducted by World bank in 1995 on the impacts of air pollution in Indian cities it was found
that about 40,351 premature deaths14 occurred due to air pollution-related diseases in 36 Indian
cities. One person was dying every 70 minutes in Delhi in 1995 as cited by Brandonand
Hommann 1995 .In 1997,Centre for Science and Environment had found that one person was
dying every 53 minutes because of air pollution - especially due to diesel run vehicles. In 1990s
the growth of vehicle outnumbered population growth and economic development (Kathuria
2005).For example vehicle population rose to about 3.6 million in 2001 from 1.9 million in 1990s
an increase of nearly 87 against the increased of population by only 43 percent (from 9 .5 to 13.8
million). Because of the rapid growth of vehicle couple with weak enforcement enhanced the
emission of city pollution more faster than ever which resulted aggrieved citizen for filing PIL
before the court by invoking fundamental Rights of the Constitution.
14.Delhi Story, The Leapfrog Factor: Clearing the Air in Asian Cities Chap.1:4
12
For example, the annual average (Roychoudhury et.al) levels of total suspended
particulate matter (TSPM) a pollutant which was potent health hazard had remained consistently
high by rising at the level of 3.85 times the permissible limit since 1987 which was much above
the national standards.In 1992 it reached upto the level of 16.7 times above permissible limit
against 7.6 times in 1988.More serious than that was the authorities knew very little about the
deadliest pollutant like the small particulates(smaller than 10 microns or PM10)15 which are
respirable and goes straight into the lungs. Despite such menacing situation the government had
not taken any action to combat pollution except carrying out certain pollution control drives like
checking the tailpipes of vehicles to see if they met very basic emissions limits.Suspended
particulate matter (SPM), respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM or PMi0), sulphur
dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and Ozone (03) are some of the major constituents of air
pollutants.
Figure1.3
Source: CPCB, GOI
15. Particulate matter < 10µm
13
3.3
Lack of Enforcement
One of the important factor responsible for triggering of PIL on environmental pollution
in Delhi has been due to the lack of effective enforcement of environmental policy.The
enforcement problem has been partly because of lack of political will on the one hand and
Interestingly partly because of the lobbied played by the corporate interest. Take the example of
Delhi Vehicular case again. The government had themselves formulated a policy for switching
over to CNG for public transport but could not be enforced because of lack of sheer political
will. Interestingly the EPCA after consultation with the official of the Delhi Transport
Department had recommended for switching over to CNG.Moreover the Corporate lobby of
Automobile Industries strongly resisted before Supreme Court for banning of diesel vehicle
because the sudden ban diesel vehicle will deprived their profit.
Based on the Government policy the Supreme Court directed to the Government for
implementation. Interestingly the Delhi government had repeatedly approached to the Supreme
Court for extension of time of deadline.As many as five times had been approached to the Court
for extension of implementation of CNG.In one point of time Supreme Court issued a notice
when the Chief Minister of Delhi had public refused to obey the court order. While disposing
the PIL case of Delhi Vehicular Pollution the Supreme Court had also slapped Rs 20,00 as fine
to the Union Government for furnishing wrong data on CNG price when court directed for
furnishing the claimed hike of CNG price by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
The lack of enforcement by the government resulted for increasing judicial intervention
on environmental policy making. It also increased the public grievance in the form of Public
Interest Litigation. Therefore the perception regarding the effectiveness of the governance also
somewhat begun to changes among the public. Therefore the public started demanding for
better transparency and accountability from the government. For example introduction of Right
to information Act and increasing role of civil society and media are product of lack of
governance in India. Besides the intervention of judiciary on governance has also glaringly
increased over the period. It clearly shows that the lack of proper governance is responsible for
enforcing environmental policy.
3.4
Judicial activism
The emerging role of judiciary in environmental governance (Sahu, 2007) can be seen in
terms of judiciary intervention in the environmental policy making process and its role in the
implementation of existing environmental laws and shaping its implementation process. The
intervention of the judiciary gave a new lights to several provisions of the constitution, which
otherwise remained unnoticed earlier. For example, the Court interpreted and expanded the
Fundamental Rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution. In the Deheradun Quarrying Case,
the Supreme Court held that the fundamental right to environment is a part of the fundamental
right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution which says that
“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
14
For example in the Doon Valley case the Court had held that the protecting and
safeguarding the right to live in a healthy environment cannot be compromised.Therefore
Supreme Court was stepping into the shoes of the administrator in various environmental cases
by issuing directions for closing down factories, implementation of environmental norms, cutting
through bureaucratic hurdle etc. With the intervention of judiciary, hundreds of factories have
installed effluent treatment plants and there is a heightened environmental awareness among
administrators, the subordinate judiciary, police and municipal officials, all of whom are involved
in implementing the court’s orders.
The Supreme Court had developed the innovative strategy (Bhagwati 1984) of public
interest litigation with an objective to make basic human rights meaningful for the large masses
of people in the country and also making them to realize their social and economic entitlements.
Judicial activism emerges as powerful mechanism (Verma 2001) of social change in India in
terms of protecting civil rights. According to Justice P.N Bhagwati, It has been held for long in
England that the "The function of a judge is merely to find the law as it is. The lawmaking
function does not belong to him, it belongs to the legislature." However the judges do take part
in the law making process. In the words of Justice Bhagwati:
“It is for the judge to give meaning to what the legislature has said and it is this process of interpretation
which constitutes the most creative and thrilling function of a judge. The Supreme Court has developed a
new normative regime of rights and insisted that a state cannot act arbitrarily but must act reasonably
and in public interest on pain of its action being invalidated by judicial intervention”.
It was due to the proactive role of Supreme Court which resulted a filing of series of PIL
before the court because the court had provided a flexible mechanism to access justice though
PIL than normal legal course of action
One such important instance was PIL of Delhi Vehicular Pollution case which case was
filed in the way back in 1985 by environmental lawyer M C Mehta before the Supreme Court of
India challenging the inaction on the part of government in controlling environmental pollution
despite alarming rise of environmental pollution in Delhi.
The writ petition was filed by invoking fundamental Rights under Article 21 of the Constitution
of India. The petitioner challenged the
“the inaction on the part of the Union of India, Delhi Administration (now known as Government of
National Capital Territory of Delhi) and other Authorities whereby smoke, highly toxic and other
corrosive gases were allowed to pass into the air due to which the lives of the people of Delhi were put to
high risk especially in thickly populated areas where most of the hazardous industries were functioning.
The residents of the area were suffering from chronic ailments of nose, throat and eyes due to air pollution.
The Petitioner prayed before the Hon'ble court that pollution is due to industries and vehicles and
appropriate directions might be issued to the owners of vehicles emitting noxious carbon monoxides,
oxides of nitrogen, lead and smoke from their vehicles”.16
16.ibid Chap.1:3
15
The Delhi vehicular pollution case have shown a different dimensions of judicial role in
environmental governance apart from playing a significant role in the evolution of the concept of
environmental governance in India.The judicial approach to environmental issues appears
(Sahu,2007) to be assuming the role of other organs domain i.e. executive and legislature. In
several public interest litigation cases the judiciary had entered into the fields normally meant for
executive actions. One such example was the direction given by the Supreme Court to the
government of Delhi to adopt CNG fuel for all commercial vehicles in place of diesel fuel in
response to the PIL. The Court used interim directions as a measure to influence different
executive authorities. The judicial activism arouse public awareness on pressing environmental
issues either by means of liberalizing the scope of public interest litigation or by directly
encouraging various citizen’s groups and NGOs to take up these issues. For example on hearing
PIL case of M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India, the Court observed that
“ no law can indeed effectively work unless there is an element of acceptance by the people in society. This
is possible only when steps are taken to make the people aware of the indispensable necessity of their conduct “.
3.5
Role of Civil Society and Media
Despite the PIL against the vehicular pollution was filed in way back in 1985 but neither
the court nor the government had taken any concrete action to combat the pollution menace in
real terms until 1996.Thus it had drawn the attention of civil society and the media at large.
For example in 1996 the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)17 a Delhi based
NGO had spare headed the campaigning for right to clean air in Delhi. Soon the media also
joined in the campaigned for combating pollution. The Centre for Science and Environment
started mobilising the public about the pollution menaced in Delhi and campaigned against the
government inaction.
The Centre for Science and Environment started mobilising the public about the
pollution menaced in Delhi and campaigned against the government inaction. It begun with the
released of book called “Slow Murder, The Deadly Story of Vehicular Pollution in India “
(Sharma and Roychowdhury 1996) by then the Vice President of India K R Narayanan, on
November 1, 1996. Among others the book contained a data including a study done by the
World Bank on Delhi Air pollution. Subsequently it was presented for a public debate in
presence of 500 people gathering at a meeting called the‘Public Trial’ on November 5, 1996.
Soon after that the Supreme Court (SC) issued a suo moto notice to the Delhi government for
submitting an action plan to combat air pollution in the city.
In December 1996, the Delhi government had submitted to the court its first action plan
to combat air pollution.
17.ibid Chap.1:4
16
The civil society had realised that without public participation implementation of the
policy is not possible. Therefore the public campaign has been carried out in collaboration with
press like Hindustan Newspaper and Times of India to mobilise public opinion for enforcement.
The catchy headline of the newspaper had drawn the attention of public and the authorities. For
example The Times of India English daily, had carried a headline stating; “51,779 Dead By
Breathing”.Another press headline carried; ‘Air pollution in Delhi has claimed more victims than
the terrorists guns in India’. The Journalist had also calculated that 10,000 people were dying
each year which meant that the toll in Delhi literally translated into one death per hour
(Roychowdhury et al.2006).
The impact of the role of civil society and media could be seen from the responses given
by the government agencies. For example Rajendra Gupta, the then transport minister of Delhi,
admitted by terming the city’s air quality as hazardous in a public meeting. Therefore he said
that“Delhi roads should display a statutory warning: breathing here is injurious to health,”.And
so was case of Saifuddin Soz then union minister for environment and forests who immediately
announced his plans to issue a white paper on pollution in Delhi with an action plan. The White
paper was finally issued in December 1997. However even after releasing of white Paper no
substantial action has been taken by the Government to reduce Environment pollution on the
ground.
Therefore the growing public concern and the public campaign had drawn the attention
of the Supreme Court of India. The judges realised that although they had the power to give
directions, but they needed a technical and managerial support to guide their decision-making
and ensure implementation.The judges innovated with new governance institutions where the
existing state agencies were failing to discharge their function.
The bench headed by Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma the then chief justice of Supreme Court who
directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to set up an authority to advise the
court on pollution and to monitor implementation of its orders.
3.6
Role of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA)
As per direction given by the Supreme Court In January 1998, the MoEF constituted the
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) 23 for the national capital
region (NCR) In January 1998, by giving sweeping powers to take the necessary steps to ensure
compliance of directions of various agencies including receiving complaints.EPCA was also
given an extensive powers in terms of search, entry, inspection and seizure.
18. Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority was constituted under the Chairmanship of Bure Lal
who was distinguished bureacrate.The committee played a key role in switching over to CNG for Delhi Public
Transport.
17
The composition of EPCA included a representatives from Delhi Administration,
Automobile Industries, Civil Society. EPCA is authorised to exercise the powers under section 5
of EPA 1986 for issuing directions in respect of complaints relating to the violation of an order
by any authority or measure specified pertaining to standards for the quality of the environment
in its various aspects, standards for omission or discharge of environmental pollutants from
various sources, restriction of areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of
industries or processes shall not be carried out or shall be carried out subject to certain
safeguards, Procedures and safeguards for the prevention of accidents which may cause
environmental pollution and remedial measures for such accidents and Procedures and
safeguards for handling of hazardous substances, EPCA has the powers to take up the matters,
suo moto, or on the basis of complaints made by an individual, representative body, or
organisations functioning in the field of environment. EPCA shall, for controlling vehicular
pollution, take all necessary steps to ensure compliance of specified emissions standards by
vehicles including proper calibration of the equipment for testing vehicular pollution, ensuring
compliance of fuel-quality standards, monitoring and coordinating action for traffic planning and
management.
In June 1998, after taking stock of the key actions needed to reduce air pollution, the
EPCA submitted a Report on monitoring and priority measures proposed by the authority for air
pollution control. This report “framed an action plan that can reduce air pollution over the next
two years”. To devise a firm implementation schedule, the EPCA plan borrowed from the action
plans of the Delhi government and the Union government. For instance, both the government
plans included the conversion of vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) as an
important measure to contain pollution. The Union government had committed to convert
buses to run on CNG within a particular time period: the EPCA reiterated it and established a
schedule for its implementation after discussions with transport officials (Roychowdhury et al.
2006).
Despite the constitution of EPCA the pollution level was continuously raising in Delhi.
According to the Centre Pollution Control Board (CPCB) the SPM levels went up 7.6 times
above the permissible limit on certain days in 1998. The Scientist at World Health Organisation
(WHO) held that a particulate less than 10 microns in size could penetrate deep into the lungs
and damage them severely.
According to the survey conducted by CPCB in 1998 the level of these particulates was
five times higher in Delhi. In early 1999, the sulphur content in Delhi’s diesel was 2,500 parts per
million (ppm); the cleanest diesel was defined worldwide as one whose sulphur level was below
50 ppm. Therefore by taking cognisance of the problem, the Supreme Court in its interim
hearing. Based on EPCA report, the amicus curiae (friend of court) filed an application to direct
the respondents “to forthwith suspend registration of diesel vehicles until further orders”. The
court heard the matter on April 16, 1999. In its order, it noted: “A perusal of the (EPCA) report
reveals that private (non-commercial) vehicles comprise 90 per cent of the vehicles plying in
Delhi. It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of vehicular NOX and RSPM are from diesel
exhaust.
18
It is estimated that chronic exposure to such toxic air contaminant would lead to 300
additional cases of lung cancer per million.”
The court voiced its concern saying,“The very right to life of the citizens is at
stake.”Therefore by taking cognisance of the problem, the Supreme Court had already ordered
that all public transport and taxis be converted to run on CNG based on the recommendation of
EPCA. ( Roychowdhury et al. 2006).
Chapter 4
4.1
Cognizance of Public Interest Litigation
Interim Order of Supreme Court:
Taking cognizance of the seriousness of the PIL in the Delhi Vehicular Pollution case
the Supreme Court in its interim hearing of July 28, 1998 had pulled up the government for its
inaction by observing that:
“In spite of the matter having engaged the attention of this court for a long time and lengthy debates on
each hearing, precious little appears to have been done by the state administration to check and control vehicular
pollution. We are rather distressed at this apathy of the state administration, when according to the white paper
published by the government of India, vehicular pollution contributes 70 per cent of the air pollution as compared
to 20 per cent in 1970. We find from the report submitted by the authority appointed…that none of the major
actions, as proposed, has been implemented...to arrest the growing pollution of air, certain steps need to be taken
immediately”19
Therefore the Supreme Court in its interim hearing of July 28, 1998 had directed to the
government for enforcing the following:








To restrict the plying of commercial vehicles including taxis more than 15 years old and
restrict on plying of goods vehicles during the daytime.
Expansion of premixed oil dispensers (petrol and 2T oil) shall be undertaken by
December 31, 1998
Ban on supply of loose 2T oils at petrol stations and service garages shall be enforced by
December 31, 1998.”
Augmentation of public transport (stage carriage) to 10,000 buses by April 1, 2001
Elimination of leaded petrol from NCT Delhi as proposed by the authority and agreed
by the MoPNG by September 1, 1998
Supply of only pre-mix petrol in all petrol filling stations to two-stroke engine vehicles by
December 31, 1998
Replacement of all pre-1990 autos and taxis with new vehicles on clean fuels by March
31, 2000
Financial incentives for replacement of all post-1990 autos and taxis with new vehicles
on clean fuels by March 31, 2001
19.ibid Chap 1:3
19









4.2
No eight-year-old buses to ply except on CNG or other clean fuels by April 1, 2000
Entire city bus fleet (DTC and private) to be steadily converted to run on single fuel
mode on CNG by March 31, 2001
New inter-state bus terminals (ISBTs) to be built at entry points in
north and south-west to avoid pollution due to entry of inter-state buses by March 31,
2000
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) to expedite and expand from nine to 80 CNG
supply outlets by March 31, 2000
Two independent fuel-testing labs to be established by June 1,1999
Automated inspection and maintenance facilities to be set up for commercial vehicles in
the first phase…. immediate
Comprehensive inspection and maintenance (I/M) programme to be started by the
transport department and private sector by March 31, 2000
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)/Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to
set up new stations and strengthen existing air quality monitoring stations for critical
pollutants by April 1, 2000.
Responses of government and other stakeholders
The direction of the Supreme Court generated much reaction from government. For
example then health minister of Delhi, Harsh Vardhan, claimed that ‘air pollution was not a serious
health problem’. Similarly then the Lieutnant Governor of Delhi who dismissed particulate
pollution in Delhi as ‘natural dust’. Thus the politicians were not convinced about the problem.
The then chief Minister of Delhi Sahib Singh Verma even refused to implement the
government’s own decision of banning 15-year-old commercial vehicles ( Roychowdhury et al.
2006 just before the parliamentary elections in February 1998.
Therefore the response from government was quite lukewarm. Due to the tardy
implementation of the government the pollution level was continuously rising in Delhi.
Therefore the civil society like CSE was once again forced to lead a campaigned with the
help of Delhi citizen.The CSE approached in the level of Prime Minister and the Election
Commission before Assembly election with a following demand such as for substantive
improvement in fuel quality for an immediate reduction of the toxicity level of vehicle fumes; a
taxation system based on incentives to push the industry to invest in cleaner technology;
introduction of a system of emissions warranty to make industry accountable for the
life-time emissions efficiency of all the vehicles it produces; information on the actual emissions
of all vehicles so that buyers could make an informed choice; and monitoring of all harmful to
prioritise pollutants and alert people about pollution levels in the city. Both Delhi Medical
Association and Indian Medical Association also joined with the civil society. Inspite of Supreme
Court direction the pollution was still rising continuously.
20
Besides the steep resistance also come from various stakeholder like Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG); Oil Companies; Society for Indian Automobile
Manufacturers (SIAM) and the leading bus Manufacturers, Tata Engineering and Ashok Leyland;
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC); All India Motor Transport Congress; Indian Tourists
Transporters Association; Delhi Contract Bus Association;DTC Private Bus Operators Welfare
Association; Indian Association of Tour Operators; SHV Energy Pvt. Ltd; and Delhi Petrol
Dealers Association. Some of the major stakeholders are highlighted in subsequent paragraph.
4.3
Resistance from Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas ( MoPN&G)
The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas was one of the major stakeholders who
steeply resisted against the conversion from diesel fuel to CNG for Delhi transport. Among
others the main argument given by the MoPN&G are following: The Diesel with 0.05 % (500
ppm) sulphur content being supplied in the Delhi Capital Region (NCR) is equivalent to Bharat
Stage II fuel which is comparable with fuel quality available in Japan, U.S.A. and best in South
East Asia. The 0.001% (10 ppm) sulphur diesel is used in a limited way in Sweden, Germany and
Switzerland which is not cost effective due to the non-availability of matching engine technology
in India. The particulate emission reduction using Bharat Stage II compliant vehicles with 0.05 %
(500 ppm) sulphur diesel in comparison to 1996 emission norms is 81.25% as compared to
93.75% with CNG.The MoP&NG also gave an argument that conversion of the entire public
transport fleet to CNG may not be sustainable in medium/long term. In case the entire public
transport in Delhi is to be on CNG, then there will be consequent cancellation of allocation of
natural gas to industries, power sector and fertiliser units which are being fed from the existing
gas pipeline system.
The MoPN&G also gave an argument that the additional supply of CNG will require
major improvements in system including entire requirement of public transport in Delhi cater to
the needs of 232000 vehicles, including 12000 buses, 150000 light transport vehicles and 70000
private cars, as per the assessment made by the Ministry without which there will be a serious
impact on other projects, which provide power and fertilizer to Northern India.The position
regard technology of on-road diesel vehicles and diesel quality in Delhi, the Euro- II equivalent
diesel is available and Euro-II equivalent emission compliant buses can be supplied by the auto
industry. Conversion of the existing fleet to Euro-II emission compliant fleet would mean taking
a jump from pre-Euro to the second phase of Euro technology i.e. a jump of more than two
technologies. The cost benefit of allowing Bharat Stage-II emission compliant transport diesel
vehicles in Delhi has not been considered as yet.
The same needs to be considered. Because of higher initial and the subsequent
maintenance costs of CNG vehicles, its lower energy efficiency compared to diesel, pricing
scenario, higher cost of distribution higher safety requirement and the uncertainties in
maintaining uninterrupted supply in situations of breakdowns of CNG processing facilities or
the pipeline, may not be sustainable in the medium/long term.
21
4.4
Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and bus chassis
manufacturers
The diesel sulphur 500 ppm (0.05%) is available in National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The Government has planned to supply this diesel in the entire NCR by June 2001
Reduction of sulphur content in diesel from 2500 ppm to 500 ppm reduces the
particulate matter emission from a vehicle (PM) by about 30%.The benefit (of a clean fuel ) is
available to new as well as existing vehicles.
With impending introduction of Bharat Stage II (Euro II) emission norms to be effective
from October, 2001, the reduction in PM emission of new engine would be to the extent of 85%
compared to pre-1996 engines.
Further reduction of sulphur from existing 500 ppm to 10 ppm will reduce the PM by
another 10%. Which will reduce the PM emission of a new Euro II engine to the extent of
86.5% compared to 1996 engines. The Euro II engine when runs on ultra-low sulphur diesel (10
ppm sulphur) with electronic diesel control and after treatment device including particulate traps
will be as good as a CNG engine in respect of PM.
Tata Engineering had argued that diesel containing 0.05% (500 ppm) Sulphur is a `clean
because of the following reasons: The term “Clean fuel” originates from the Clean Air Act
Amendments of 1990 enacted in the U.S.A. “Clean Alternative Fuel” has been defined in Para
‘C’ of the said Act under Section 241 as follows:
“The term “clean alternative fuel” means any fuel including methanol, ethanol, or other
alcohols (including any mixture thereof containing 85 percent or more by volume of such
alcohol with gasoline or other fuels), reformulated gasoline, diesel, natural gas, liquefied
petroleum gas, and hydrogen or power source (including electricity) used in a clean-fuel vehicle
that complies with the standards and requirements applicable to such vehicles under this title
when using such fuel or power source”.
When the diesel fuel containing 0.05% (500 ppm) Sulphur when combined with vehicles
of Bharat Stage II/EURO II norms, the emissions are so low that the same would not cause
pollution or be injurious to human health.
4.5.
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)
The DTC authorities had put forwarded an argument stating that nearly 750 buses which
operate on Inter-state routes covering UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Himachal
Pradesh, J & K etc which operate buses into Delhi. Many of the routes are long but there is no
CNG available at any of these locations unless set up a filling stations and repair facilities for
CNG vehicles. Therefore the DTC pleaded that all Inter-State route buses including those of
DTC may be allowed to ply using low sulphur diesel of 0.05%. Included over 8 years old buses.
22
Since the DTC shall be fully dependent on only one source of CNG gas viz.
Indraprastha Gas Limited.20 In the event of any untoward accident and breakdown of gas supply,
the entire public transport operation can be paralysed leading to instant mob reaction and
damage to public property. There have been occasions in which gas supply has stopped for
many hours. When the city will be dependent on single fuel source for public transport, it is
imperative that multiple sources of supply are ensured, to avoid any calamity in future
Therefore the DTC had even suggested that other sources of CNG gas supply may be
ensured to guarantee constant supply of gas for public transport.The chassis manufacturers
should be directed to come out with Euro-II/III diesel engine at the earliest so that low sulphur
diesel can be effectively used.
4.6
Oil Companies
The oil companies argued that over the past 5 years, a substantial improvements have
been brought about in the quality of petrol and diesel. The benzene content in petrol and
sulphur content in diesel in National Capital Region is comparable with best of the world. The
petrol & diesel being supplied in Delhi are corresponding to the requirements of the Euro-II
equivalent emission technology and can be regarded as Clean Fuel.Unleaded, low benzene petrol
combined with four stroke 3-wheeler engine, gives tail pipe emissions lower by 96% (CO) and
84% (HC+ Nox) when compared with old two stroke engine autos.Unleaded, low benzene
petrol combined with Euro-II technology in passenger cars will also give substantial reduction in
emission over the old vehicles. 500 ppm sulphur diesel combined with Euro-II technology
reduces the particulate emissions by more than 80% over the on-road vehicles of old technology.
4.7 Court dismissal of MoP&NG representation
In 1998, one of the member of the EPCA, had raised the issue of the risks posed to
public health by diesel vehicles. The authority referred the matter to the CPCB, 21 then
submitted a report in favour of preventing dieselisation of the private vehicle fleet. The EPCA
followed by calling for meetings with automobile manufacturers, who informed the authority
that it would not be possible to advance emissions norms.Taking all this into consideration, in
April 1999, the EPCA submitted a note to the court on ‘Restriction on the plying of dieseldriven (private) vehicles in the NCR’.
In this note, it asked for a ban on diesel cars in the capital, based on the emerging public
health science and the extent of pollution in Delhi.
20.Leading gas Distribution Company in Delhi and National Capital region.
21.Central Pollution Control Board is a statutory organisation vested a power under powers and functions under the
Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
23
Based on this report, the amicus curiae (friend of court) filed an application to direct the
respondents “to forthwith suspend registration of diesel vehicles until further orders”. The court
heard the matter on April 1999
In its order, it noted: “A perusal of the (EPCA) report reveals that private (noncommercial) vehicles comprise 90 per cent of the vehicles plying in Delhi. It is estimated that
more than 90 per cent of vehicular NOX and RSPM are from diesel exhaust.
The Supreme Court while giving an interim order dated March 26, 2001 made a
following observation:
“During the course of argument, it was contended before us that low sulphur diesel should be regarded as
a clean fuel and buses be permitted to run on that. It was submitted that in some other countries ultra
low sulphur diesel which has sulphur content of not more than 0.001 per cent is now available. We direct
the Bhure Lal Committee to examine this question and permit the parties to submit their written
representations to the Committee in this behalf. The Committee may submit a report to this Court in
that behalf as also indicate as to which fuel can be regarded as `clean fuel’, which does not cause pollution
or is otherwise injurious to health”.
Against the backdrop of the Ministry of Petroleum representation for modification of
March 26, 2001 order the Supreme Court in its order dated 27 th April 2001 further made an
observation:
“We do not think that any modification is required to be made in our earlier order. We however, wish to
clarify that our order, dated 26th March, 2001 has to be read alongwith our order, dated 28th July,
1998. Insofar as other pleas raised in this application as regards “clean fuels” are concerned, we direct
that a copy of this application be sent to the Bhure Lal Committee for its examination. By our order,
dated March 26, 2001 we had directed Bhure Lal Committee to submit a report to this Court regarding
clean fuels. Mr. Harish N. Salve, learned Solicitor General submits that Bhure Lal Committee has
construed that order to imply as if it is required to submit a report only on the question whether low
sulphur diesel can be regarded as a clean fuel. Our order dated 26th March, 2001 is explicitly clear in
this behalf. Bhure Lal Committee has been asked to submit a report not only with regard to whether low
sulphur diesel can be regarded as a clean fuel but also to indicate as to which fuel can be regarded as clean
fuel, as does not cause pollution or is otherwise not injurious to health. We expect the report on all these
issues….It shall be open to the interested parties to make their representation directly before Bhure Lal
Committee in support of their pleas as to what can be regarded as a clean fuel, which does not cause
pollution and is otherwise not injurious to health, to assist the Committee to formulate its report.”
Diesel automobile manufacturers tried to divert the issue by saying that petrol cars were
also carcinogenic22 however Supreme Court dismissed the matter in its hearing on April 29,
1999.
22. A carcinogen is any substance (agent) that is responsible for causing cancer.
24
Chapter 5
5.1
Impact on environmental policy making.
Court Judgement on Public Interest Litigation
One of the interesting features of the PIL of Delhi Vehicular Pollution case was that the
government had itself recommended the conversion of the public transport such as buses to run
on CNG. The EPCA had simply submitted the government’s action plan to the court, after
consultation of the deadlines with transport officials. The Supreme Court had converted the plan
and deadlines of the Government policy into Court directions despite steep resistance from both
Union and State government had given a steep resistance against the banning of diesel fuel for
public transport. Therefore the Government had approached five times to the court for
reviewing the court order in conversion of CNG for public transport in Delhi.
In attempting to dilute the court order the MoP&NG had even set up a committee under
the chairpersonship of R A Mashelkar,23 to devise a ‘comprehensive’Auto Fuel Policy.The
Mashelkar Committee recommended for only government should decide regarding vehicular
emissions standard and the corresponding fuel specifications without specifying vehicle
technology and the fuel type.
28. R A Mashelkar was a former Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India.
In other words,the committee was trying to advise the Supreme Court that public
transport would be run on Euro II emissions norms for diesel and petrol.However the Supreme
Court rejected the report. Justice B N Kirpal,24 who was heading the bench, observed that
“although the Mashelkar report mentions that it is dealing with public health concerns, I do not see the
name of a single health expert in their panel of experts.”
Despite steep resistance from various stakeholders against conversion into CNG as highlighted
at chapter 4 the Supreme Court had handed down the order for conversion all commercial Delhi
public transport into CNG in its judgement dated 5th April 2002. With this judgement the
Supreme Court brought down the curtains ( Roychowdhury et al. 2006) on the capital’s diesel
buses. The bench, headed by justice B N Kirpal, who had followed the matter since its inception,
delivered a precedence setting judgement providing strong endorsement to the precautionary
principle and public health on the one hand and provided a framework to force polluters to pay
on the other.
In addition to this, the Supreme Court imposed a stiff penalty on diesel bus operators
who had defied the court’s earlier order and had continued to run their vehicles on the polluting
fuel. A fine of Rs 500 per bus per day was charged from April 6, 2002.The court ordered, to be
hiked to Rs 1,000 from May 6, 2002, until there was a complete shift to CNG. The court also
slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on the Union government for repeatedly seeking modification of
the order.
23. R A Mashelkar was a former Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India.
24. Justice B N Kirpal, was a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.
25
5.2
Last ditch resistance of government
Interestingly the then Union Minister of Petroleum of Natural Gas in his last ditch effort
directed Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) the company which is responsible for supplying of
CNG to increase the price of gas by Rs 2-3 per kg by raising the bogey of spiralling costs and
mounting losses. This was close on the heels of the tax hike on CNG in the Union budget. This
instigated the Delhi government to consider a hike in bus fare.With a further hike in CNG
prices, the price of CNG would have risen closer to the price of diesel, which then would have
reduced the fiscal incentive for vehicle owners to shift to this cleaner fuel.However he could not
succeed because the Supreme Court pulled up the IGL as well.So much so that contempt notice
had been issued to four IGL official for creating confusion to the court.
The April 5, 2002 court order was a turning point ( Roychowdhury et al.2006) in this
entire story. From the very next day, there was a perceptible change in the official mood. The
focus shifted from resistance to implementation. Bus operators threatened to strike to protest
against the fine they were asked to pay, but the state government did not back down. Sensing the
resoluteness of the Delhi government, the recalcitrant bus operators returned on the roads and
began paying the fine too. Soon, a phase-in plan for new buses was drawn up; orders for new
buses were placed. Diesel buses began to get off the roads and CNG buses were inducted into
service .
5.3
The Supreme Court order
The major components of Judgement which had bearing impact on environmental policy
making are reproduced below. The Supreme Court had observed while delivering a judgement
on PIL that
“the Auto Fuel Policy must focus on measures to “…anticipate, prevent and attack…”. Such a
proactive strategy needed to be employed post-haste, because in the past one year, Delhi had been losing
whatever it had gained in terms of air quality after four years of court-driven anti-pollution measures.
“Lack of concern or effort on the part of various governmental agencies has resulted in spiralling pollution
levels,”
While reinforcing its belief in CNG as a clean fuel and rejecting the Mashelkar
committee’s constituted by the government led by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas who
recommended for multi-fuel concept, including diesel, the court said:
“It will be open to the Union of India to supply LPG in addition to CNG” as an alternative fuel, “or
to supply any other clean, non-adulterable fuel” as recommended“by the Bhure Lal committee”.
Further while rejecting the Mashelkar committee’s recommendation the Supreme Court
made an elaborate observation which is reproduced below.
26
“The composition of the Mashelkar committee was such that none of its members was either a doctor, or
an expert in public health. The said committee submitted its report, which does not show any serious concern in
protecting the health of the people… Therefore, it is naive of the Mashelkar committee to expect that merely laying
down fresh emissions norms will be effective or sufficient to check or control vehicular pollution.Therefore, to
recommend that the role of the government be limited to specifying norms is a clear abdication of the constitutional
and statutory duty cast upon the government to protect and preserve the environment, and is in the teeth of
the‘precautionary principle’.
On the contentious matter of supply of CNG, the Union government was told to give
preference to the transport sector the Court ruled:
“If there is a short supply of an essential commodity, then priority must be of public health, as opposed to
the health of the balance sheet of a private company,”
In fact, the supply of the green gas had been the main bone of contention between the
Centre and the Delhi government. The latter had alleged that the Union government particularly
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was not supplying enough gas for the city’s fleet of
CNG-run vehicles. The court also ruled that its order was immune to any administrative attempt
to nullify or modify it. For the court, the order was important because of its implications for
public health. It said:
“During the course of arguments, literature was filed in court giving data from cities all over the world
which co-relates increased air pollution with increase in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and also
shows the carcinogenic nature of RSPM — PM10 (matter less than 10 microns in size). The scientific
studies indicate that air pollution leads to considerable levels of mortality and morbidity. The Journal of
American Medical Association (JAMA) has published in its recent issue (2002) the findings of a study
involving over 500,000 people, conducted over 16 years, in different cities of the US.The researchers find
that fine particle related pollution leads to lung cancer and cardiopulmonary mortality.The researchers
find that fine particle related pollution leads to lung cancer and cardiopulmonary mortality. Their research
indicates that with an increase of every 10 microgramme per cubic metre of fine particles, the risk of lung
cancer increases by eight per cent.” But, said the court, this increase in respiratory diseases especially
amongst the children should normally be a cause of concern for any responsible government. It added:
“However, children do not agitate or hold rallies and, therefore, their voice is not heard and the only
concern of the government now appears to be is to protect the financial health of the polluters, including the
oil companies who by present international desirable standards produce low quality petrol and diesel at
the cost of public health”
5.4
Implementation of court order
A day after the court order of April 5, 2002, the Delhi government got down to the
business of implementation. Within eight months, the CNG bus programme was fully
operational. The chronological order how it was implemented are highlighted below:
27
April 2002:
When the bus operators refused to pay the fine as imposed by the court, the Delhi
government, especially then the transport minister Ajay Maken, came out strongly in support of
the CNG programme by stating that
“we are not blind. We are concerned about the health of citizens and there is no doubt that CNG is cleaner than
diesel. We want to end this controversy once and for all by implementing the order and phasing out diesel buses…”
The transport situation improved on April 11 when over 2,000 diesel buses returned to
the roads after paying the fine of Rs 500 a day. On April 13, the transport department issued a
notification scrapping the loss-making and controversial kilometre scheme — estimated to cause
a loss of Rs 16 lakh per day to the DTC. On April 15, almost 4,800 of Delhi’s fleet of 6,300
diesel buses came back on the roads. Collections (from penalty deposited by bus operators) went
up to Rs 2.38 crore. Simultaneously, the Union government set up two committees to ensure
uninterrupted supply of CNG to Delhi. Even the IGL chalked out a new investment plan of
over Rs 500 crore for setting up CNG outlets in the city.
June 2002
The Union government doubled the allocation of natural gas to Delhi: supply was
increased to cater to 10,000 buses, 80,000 autos, 30,000 taxis and as many private vehicles. The
CNG allocation took a gigantic leap from 0.98 metric million standard cubic metres per day
(mmscmd) to 2 mmscmd.
July 2002
Petroleum minister Ram Naik informed: “As per the court order, we have increased the
allocation of natural gas for Delhi’s transport system to 16 lakh kg per day, but dispensing it is
difficult as there isn’t enough infrastructure. Queues would end at dispensing stations when the
CNG pipeline is constructed by December 2002.”
The Delhi government informed that a total of 4,286 buses had been phased out by MayJune 2002.
Around 2,615 special permits were deposited by diesel bus owners in advance of the scheduled
phase-out; these were the buses scheduled to be phased out between July-November 2002 as per
directions of the court. As a result, the number of phased out diesel buses went up to 6,901.
August 2002
In response to the July 29, 2002 order (directing that from August 5, no retrofitted or
converted CNG bus will be allowed to ply unless the director, transport department, NCT of
Delhi certified that the vehicles conformed with the safety norms of November 19, 2001), the
Delhi government filed an application.
28
In it, the government informed that a meeting was held on July 31, 2002 with
representatives of retrofitment agencies and transport associations to clarify the issues related to
directions of the court passed on July 29, 2002.The court directions were pertaining to and
applicable on the buses retrofitted with approved CNG kits and related to the compliance of
safety checks as laid down in the Annexure 9 and 10 to GSR 853 (E) dated November 19, 2001.
The government drew up an action plan to ensure inspection of all CNG retrofitted buses. It
included the setting up of a safety council to supervise the adherence and implementation of
safety checks and procedural requirement for CNG-powered buses, including converted/
retrofitted buses. A comprehensive checklist of items in conformity with the relevant clauses of
the safety code of practice and the guidelines issued by the Union government from time to time
was drawn up. The Delhi government also planned to set up an expert committee for examining
all converted buses.8
September 2002
The Delhi government decided to buy 500 CNG buses each from Ashok Leyland and
Telco Motors. It wrote to the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and the
Automotive Research Association of India ( ARAI) asking them to amend certain safety clauses
for converted CNG buses in Delhi and also postponed the safety checking of the converted
buses. The safety norms adhered to by buses retrofitted with CNG kits came under a cloud, with
none of the 10-odd buses checked by a newly constituted team of experts on September 24
passing the fitness test. Even in the following two days, the tests at Burari (testing centre of
transport authority) revealed that less than 50 per cent buses met all the safety requirements.
October 2002
IGL’s 23-km gas pipeline from Dhaula Kuan to Grand Trunk Road was nearing
completion; the company planned to complete the pipeline in November 2002.
November 2002
The last batch of about 600 diesel buses was phased out on schedule on November 30.
Since the April 2002 order, nearly 6,000 diesel buses had been phased out.
December 2002
On December 1, Sheila Dikshit, CM, flagged off the last diesel bus from Delhi. The
entire public transport fleet in Delhi had moved to CNG.
5.5
Achievement due Public Interest Litigation
The failure of the government enforcement of environmental policy has been exposed by
the Public Interest Litigation of Delhi Vehicular Pollution case.
29
The government instead of protecting the citizen life by enforcing environmental laws
had joined in the group among other stakeholders against the introduction of CNG for public
transport.
The government approaching five times to the court for seeking new deadline given for
implementation is a glaring example of government failure.In one occasson the Supreme Court
was even forced to issue a contempt of court against Delhi Chief Minister because of defying
court order.So much so that the Solicitor General even refused to appear for Delhi government
before the Supreme Court because of the defying court order. The Supreme Court firmly stood
in spite of heavy resistance from various stakeholders ironically including the government which
otherwise the enforcement of environmental Policy falls under the domain of executive organs.
It was due to the intervention of Supreme Court the CNG could be successfully introduced for
public transport in Delhi.According to the official of pollution control authority of Delhi
Transport Department the government would have been taken another two decades to introduce
CNG for public transport had Supreme not intervened to the PIL.This statement was revealed
while conducting a semi-structure interview with official of pollution control authority of Delhi
Transport Department by the undersigned.
Therefore it was because of Public Interest Litigation and conscious intervention of Supreme
Court which were mainly responsible contributing major achievement in Delhi Vehicular
Pollution case.Some of the major achievement are highlighted below:
a) The use of diesel fuel for all commercial buses,four wheelers and three wheelers are
banned since 2002 in Delhi and introduced CNG instead to meet the objective of clean
fuel and reduction of emission.
b) The public buses which was more than 15 year old have been discarded as per Supreme
Court order.
c) As per per IGL Annual Report -2010-2011 it revealed that 4.3 Lakhs Vehicles are
running on CNG fuel and established 240 CNG stations which spread all around the
National Capital Territory of Delhi, besides 38 stations in National Capital Region as on
March 31, 2011. Initially the Supreme Court was ordered for setting up of 80 CNG
station.
d) The Pollution Control of Delhi Transport Department Govt.of NCT of Delhi has
established 600 Pollution checking centre including in major workshop. These centre
issue a certificate called Pollution under Control Certificate (PUC) to all the vehicles in
Delhi. Every vehicle irrespective of public or private has to carry a pollution certificate to
ensure the pollution controlled is maintained as per prescribed standard.
e) Another major achievement was the introduction of lead petrol through catalytic
converter from unleaded petrol.2T oil which was one of the most pollutant element of
two wheelers have been completely banned.Now only premixed oil are used for two
wheelers.Moreover the two stroke of two wheelers were converted into four stroke being
a less pollution as per Court direction.
30
f) Introduced Bharat IV (Euro-IV) standard.
g) Automobile Industries also started manufacturing buses for CNG and Bharat IV for
other private vehicles.
h) Recently, Indraprastha Gas Ltd the Company responsible for supply of CNG has signed
long term supply agreement with Delhi Transport Corporation, which contributes
approximately 25% of CNG Sales.
i) CNG is a safe, economical and environment friendly fuel for transport sector. By
replacing traditional fossil fuels of diesel into CNG it not only reduced the running cost
of the vehicles but also reduced the pollution level as well.In the table 1 shows that the
CNG is having more beneficial in terms of reducing pollution emission.CNG is about
66% cheaper than petrol and about 21% cheaper than diesel at the current prices.It is
found to be one of the most environment friendly fuels because the CNG powered
vehicles emit 85% less NOX,70% less reactive HC’s, and 74% less CO than similar
gasoline powered vehicles.
The use of CNG-fueled vehicles significantly reduces emissions of ozone precursors.
Table1. 1: Emission Benefits of Replacing Conventional
Diesel with CNG in Buses
Fuel
Pollution Parameter
CO
Diesel
g/km
NOx
2.4 g/km
CNG
g/km
0.4 g/km
Percentage reduction
84
PM
21 g/km
0.38
8.9 g/km
0.012
58
97
Source: World Bank (2001 b:2), [Frailey et al 2000].
j) Reduction of vehicular pollution level.
k) The introduction of CNG could have been taken a minimum two decades through
normal course of action because of lack of political will and institutional problem.It was
because of PIL and Supreme Court intervention the CNG could be introduced in Delhi
for commercial transport according to the Pollution Control authority of Delhi
Transport Department.
31
In Delhi, the public transport system including buses and taxies are operating on a single fuel
CNG mode on the directions given by the Supreme Court. Initially, there was a lot of resistance
from bus and taxi operators. But now they themselves realise that the use of CNG is not only
environment friendly but also economical (Agarwal 2005). Introduction of compressed natural
gas (CNG) in Delhi's compressed natural gas (CNG) experiment has been hailed as one of the
few success stories (Kathuria 2005) in times, due to which a substantial reduction of vehicular
pollution has been achieved in a very short time. From one of the most polluted cities of the
world in 1999, Delhi bagged the 'Clean City International award in May 2 003 for successfully
converting its 9,000 public buses to CNG.
5.6
Future Plan of CNG expansion
At present around 7 lakhs vehicle are running on CNG in India and expected to increase
upto 5.8 million over next ten years according to the estimates of the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Regulatory Board. Around 30 cities have access to CNG. Further the pipeline network is also
expected increase to 15,000 Km and implementation of city gas distribution network will cover
around 150 to 200 cities by 2014. The Table 2 shows the future CNG expansion plan in India.
Table 1. 2: Gas Authority of India (GAIL) Future Plan: The Road Ahead
• Feasibility studies for additional 20 cities in progress
• Commitment for Highways to Greenways
• CNG corridors along major highways on anvil
National Roadmap for expanding CNG
Programme
2009-2014
Crore
MMSCMD
2015-20
2021-25
Estimates
Number of Potential Cities*
Investment Required
298
Rs. 37,170
Likely Gas Requirement
Potential Households
Potential Vehicles
Number of cities in the periphery of 200 km. from
existing / upcoming pipeline
74.34
14,871,385
3,708,965
117
Estimated Demand
Capital expenditure
Number of cities where there is no existing /
proposed pipeline connectivity
16.3 MMSCMD
Rs. 8,150 crore
Estimated Demand
Cap expenditure
10.32 MMSCMD
Rs. 5,160 crore
Source: Gas Authority of India Ltd: Future Plan: Road Ahead.
32
69
Chapter 6
6.1
Conclusions in perspective
Public Interest Litigation as policy tool.
My objective of the research study begun with the question that to what extent the PIL
determined the environmental Policy making in India. From analysis it shows that the Public
Interest in India has emerged as important tool for shaping environment policy because of
failure of government to discharge a constitution responsibilities. The PIL become a faster mode
of getting through environmental policy than normal course of action for the reason that the PIL
is backed by not only public but also court. Public Interest Litigation as mechanism to seek
justice to meet the common interest of the public has resulted many beneficial over the period.
Therefore the PIL has become not only as part of policy process but also shaped some
of the major environmental policy making.Take the case of some successful PIL achievement
apart from Delhi Vehicular Pollution case.In Taj corridor case where around 200 industrial unit
have stopped using pollutant fuel to save the Taj Mahal in Agra from Pollution effect.l.Similarly
in Ganga Pollution case the government made an elaborate plan to clean up the Ganga River
which is holy shrine for Indian. And so is the Yamuna River which flows through National
Capital. The government has so far spent around 4.5 thousand crores rupees to clean up the
river. In the case of Doon Valley lime case the government brought the Doon Valley under
ecological fragile area. One of the outstanding achievement of the PIL was about switching over
of entire fleet of public transport of Delhi into CNG in place of diesel fuel.As on today half
million of Delhi Vehicle is already running on CNG which in turn substantially reduced the air
pollution. So far 240 Gas Station have already been established in Delhi. This outstanding
achievement has become a model experience for other developing countries who even emulates
among those who had been facing a similar environmental challenges in their respective
countries.
6.2 Public Interest Litigation and judicial activism
In this paper the sub question was also posed to find out that to what extent the judicial
activism has motivated PIL on environmental issues? The innovative judicial method like PIL
has emerged with an objective to cater the justice to the disadvantage group of people which
otherwise the judiciary was hitherto dominated by the privilege class of people. The PIL was
product of handiwork of some outstanding Judges of the Supreme Court of India.The PIL
allow individuals, groups and communities to challenge government decisions and activities in a
court of law for the enforcement of the public interest. With introduction of PIL in India the
series of litigation had been filed before the High Court as well as Supreme Court on
environmental issues which includes Delhi vehicular Pollution case.
In Delhi Vehicular Pollution case the Supreme Court firmly stood for switching over to
CNG for all public transport in Delhi city in spite of steep resistance from stake holder like
central as well as Delhi government, Automobile industries, Oil Company etc. They were
resisted against the introduction of CNG for public transport. However Court did not budge.
33
The EPCA was constituted as per direction of Supreme Court which is still functioning.
In the course of personal interview with the authority from Delhi Transport Department it was
admitted that another two decade might have taken place to introduce CNG for public transport
had Supreme Court not intervened.
6.3
Civil society and media
Another sub question was posed in this paper that whether role of civil society and
media also contributed for motivating the Public interest litigation on environmental issues?The
civil society not only pulled up both the executive as well as judiciary for inaction on Delhi
environmental pollution issues but also created awareness among the public to expose the
government failure to control environmental pollution due to which the public health are badly
affected.Similarly the media and also played a crucial role in highlighting the plight of the citizen
through national newspaper which even drawn the attention of court.It was because of the
public campaign orgainised by the civil society led by the Central for Science and Environment
and press the Supreme issues a suo moto notices to Delhi government. As a result the
Government has brought out a comprehensive environmental policy in the form of white paper
which becomes a blue print environmental policy document for the government. The White
paper was the outcome of series of meeting and consultation among the various experts and
departments.The Policy paper encompassed range of environmental issues like land, water, air,
forest etc which was brought by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt.of India.
It was because of constant effort was made by the both civil society as well as media it
The not only pulled up both the executive as well as judiciary for inaction on Delhi
environmental pollution issues but also created awareness among the public to expose the
government failure to control environmental pollution due to which the public health are badly
affected. Similarly the media and also played a crucial role in highlighting the plight of the citizen
through national newspaper which even drawn the attention of court. Because of collective
effort the Supreme Court intervened and directed to both Centre as well as Delhi government
for adopting an appropriate environmental policy to control Delhi Vehicular pollution.
Therefore both civil society and media also played an important role in motivating on Public
Interest Litigation.
6.4
Limitation of Public interest Litigation
Despite resounding success story of PIL the critique argued that the PIL may not become a
substitute method for bringing lasting solution of the vexed issues environmental pollution like
problem in India.For example according to(Cassel, 1989) ‘Judicial activism cannot become a
substitute for executive's efficiency’. Similarly according to according to Batra (Saksena 2003)
the PIL is not a panacea to cure all ills’because of ‘limitation of law, resources and authority of
court in getting its order implemented’.
34
Therefore critique argued that an integrated approach by active participation from
executive, enforcement agencies and citizen alone may bring an effective and lasting solution on
environmental issues rather than resorting through PIL since the problems in India reflect a
complex reality intricately linked to the nation's socio economic structure.
6.5
Conclusion
Therefore in the conclusion it may be said that the Public Interest Litigation has emerged
as an important tool for shaping environmental policy making in India because of lack of
effective enforcement on the part of the government despite exist an innumerable legislation of
environmental laws on the one hand and failing to discharge constitutional responsibilities on the
other.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
35
Map of Delhi and India:
Map of Delhi Map of Delhi (National Capital of India)
36
Appendix –I
Vehicle growth in Delhi Road*
* Around 7 million vehicles are in Delhi Road
* Around thirteen hundred new vehicles are registered per day
37
Appendix-II
Three organs of the Republic of India.They are located in New Delhi
Raisina Hill (Executive)
Parliament (Legislature)
Supreme Court (Judiciary)
38
Appendix-III
Delhi Pollution (Rajpath Road on 28th October 2012)
39
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