Supreme Court appoints former judge to monitor stubble burning

New Delhi: Concerned that people in Delhi-NCR cannot even breathe clean air, the Supreme Court on Friday appointed its former judge Madan B Lokur as one-man committee to prevent and stop stubble burning in the national capital's adjoining states. A bench, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, described the situation as an "emergency", requiring the top court to step in before the problem of bad air and smog assumes unmanageable proportion.

"We are concerned that citizens of Delhi and NCR should be able to breathe fresh air…good clean air. This court will not be in session for nine days after today and we don't want people in Delhi-NCR to suffer because of stubble burning," observed the bench. It accepted the suggestion made by senior advocate Vikas Singh that Justice Lokur, who has heard matters relating to environmental pollution as a judge, should be requested to assist.

Singh was appearing for the teenager, Aditya Dubey, who has sought intervention of the top court to ensure people could get clean air as their fundamental right to health and safety.

According to the senior lawyer, the stubble burning incidents this year had gone up by five times. "Compared to 260 last year, more than 1200 fires have already taken place this year. The states should now tell why more than five times the fire took place this year," contended Singh.

He also cited the affidavit by Punjab government, which claimed it has developed an android based mobile app and set up a dashboard for monitoring stubble burning and asked why such incidents were on the rise despite these claims.