New Delhi . The Supreme Court on Wednesday reprimanded the Central Government and also expressed its displeasure with the Haryana and Punjab governments over the deteriorating air quality in Delhi. The Supreme Court slammed the Central government for weakening the Environment Protection Act and stressed the need for stricter punishment to deal with pollution caused by stubble burning. The court told the Punjab and Haryana government that you have failed to collect the fine. The top court said that the efforts of Punjab and Haryana to stop the incidents of stubble burning are proving to be mere lip service. The Supreme Court said that we will hold the Central Government responsible because it has not made any arrangements. The Environmental Protection Act has become weak. By amending Section 15, you have removed the punishment and imposed a fine in its place. The procedure for imposing fines may not be followed.
Section 15 of the Act prescribes punishment for contravention of its provisions. Representing the central government, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati assured the court that the rules would be finalized within 10 days and the Act would be fully implemented.
Instructions given to the Center to amend the law:
The apex court directed the Central government to amend the law to increase the environmental compensation cess to be imposed on violators of the rules. The ASG said show cause notices have been issued to the Secretary (Environment) and Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture) of both Punjab and Haryana. The Supreme Court said that if these state governments and the Center were really ready to protect the environment, everything would have been done even before the amendment in Section 15. This is all politics, nothing else. On Wednesday, the air quality in the national capital was recorded in very poor category, in many areas it even reached the severe category.