The Hindu : Diesel buses in Delhi to pay fine from today: SC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 06, 2002

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Diesel buses in Delhi to pay fine from today: SC

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI APRIL. 5. The Supreme Court today rejected the Centre's request for extension of the January 31 deadline to run diesel buses in the capital and said this plea ``clearly, is to frustrate the orders passed by this court with regard to conversion of commercial vehicles to the CNG ``fuel mode'' made in the interest of the health of the citizens.

A three-Judge Bench, however, made it clear that till all the diesel buses were replaced the bus owners who continued to ply diesel buses (based on executive directions and contrary to the court orders) shall pay a fine of Rs. 500 per bus a day for 30 days from tomorrow and Rs. 1,000 a bus a day 30 days thereafter.

The Bench, comprising Justice B.N. Kirpal, Justice V.N. Khare and Ashok Bhan, pointed out that it had been extending the time for conversion of commercial vehicles to the CNG ``fuel mode'' so that disruption in bus services did not take place and unnecessary hardship was not caused to commuters.

The court said that time was first extended till September 30, 2001 and then till January 31, 2002. It is during January 2001 to February 2002 that action has been taken by the Union of India, which leaves us with no doubt that its intention, clearly, is to frustrate the orders passed by this court''.

Observing that the Centre's response was baffling, the Bench said that the manner in which it has sought to achieve this object is to try and discredit CNG as the proper fuel and, secondly, to represent to this court that CNG is in short supply and, thirdly, delay the setting up of adequate dispensing stations''.

The Bench said that it was as a result of various orders passed by the court that the air pollution level in Delhi had been stabilised.

``In 2000, the annual average level of `respirable particulate matter'(RSPM) declined to 186 microgram/cum from 222 microgram/cum. This is no small achievement as the city continues to add over 2 lakh vehicles each year and its total vehicular fleet is larger than of Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai put together''.

The Bench said: ``But even with these efforts, its RSPM pollution remains roughly three times above the national standard for annual average concentration of RSPM mandated under the Prevention of Air Pollution Act, 1981''.

Referring to the Centre's contention that no other city in the world had introduced CNG buses on such a large scale as had been directed by the court, the Bench quoted figures to show how the United States, China and South Korea had introduced CNG buses to clean up the air.

Referring to the Centre's contention that CNG was in short supply and could not meet the Delhi's requirements, the Bench said that as per the available information there seems to be no apparent shortage of gas. Major investment has already been sanctioned for expansion of infrastructure to supply natural gas as well as regassified liquefied natural gas (LNG) to northern India''.

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