New Delhi: The Supreme Court today slammed Delhi and other National Capital Region states for failing to pay an allowance to laborers when building activities were halted owing to air pollution, saying it has observed that the ball only begins rolling when top authorities are summoned.
“We discovered that none of the nine National Capital Region States have followed our directive to pay compensation as build workers.” There is no notification that a single penny was indeed paid. We instruct the Chief Secretaries to attend the VC (video conference). Let them arrive, and they will be serious. “We want proof,” the bench of Justices AS Oka and AG Masih stated. “It is our view that the ball begins to revolve only when we summon.
The court stated that it anticipated at least one of the states to demonstrate that they had paid the payment to a significant number of workers. The chief secretaries of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have been summoned to attend on Thursday.
The court declined to loosen the limitations set under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan to combat the deteriorating Air Quality Index, which had entered the ‘ severe +’ band but has now slipped to the ‘ very poor’ category in recent days. The bench stated that additional relaxations would be allowed only if the AQI trended downward.
The court further highlighted that “very shocking things” are exposed in the reports of court commissions. Members of the Bar requested “There was is a complete absence of coordination among the Delhi government, MCD (Municipal Commission of Delhi, DPCC, which (Delhi Pollution Control Commission), CAQM (Commission on the for Air Quality Management) and other the government,” said the report.
Earlier, a lawyer claimed that the court commissioners were being intimidated. “We are feeling extremely unsafe. Local toll collectors and SHOs informed me that this region is home to large numbers of shooters, crooks, and muscle guys who do not pay the toll. A court commissioner’s counsel stated, “This is the ground reality, and there is live stubble burning as well.”
The court remarked in its order that it appreciates the work of the court commissioners. “They have indicated that they have risked their lives while performing their duties.