You can't leave people to die: SC

New Delhi: At a marathon hearing on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court on Monday passed a slew of directions, as it expressed its displeasure at the failure of the Centre and state machinery, to be followed by the Chief Secretaries to the lowest officer in the administration, to comply with its directions.

"You can postpone the Assembly, people cannot be left to die", said a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra seeking the presence of chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The court scheduled the next hearing on November 6. The Supreme Court said people are losing precious years of their lives due to pollution. "Can we survive in this atmosphere? This is not the way we can survive," the court said, adding that the authorities have left the people to die.

The apex court made it clear that it would penalize top officials starting from the Chief Secretary to the local administration officer, if found guilty in not taking steps to stop air pollution.

"Delhi is choking every year and we are not able to do anything. Question is that every year this is happening," the bench said, adding, "It cannot be done in a civilised country". "It is too much. No one is safe even inside their house. It is atrocious," the bench said.

The court also roped in the SHO of the local police station to ensure steps are taken to stop stubble burning. "It is a shocking state of affairs.... There cannot be large scale exodus of people from Delhi. Delhi cannot be evacuated", said the court.

The bench was told by senior advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the apex court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, that as per the Centre's affidavit crop burning has gone up by 7 per cent in Punjab and is down by 17 per cent in Haryana.