Pollution from buses: Supreme Court asks Rajasthan to file affidavit

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today asked the Rajasthan government to file an affidavit within three weeks in a matter pertaining to pollution from buses operating to the state from Bikaner House near the India Gate here. The apex court ordered that if the state does not file an affidavit in three weeks, all the buses originating from or terminating at Bikaner House here would be restrained from operating with effect from April 1 this year.

A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta observed that notice was issued to the state earlier, but no advocate has appeared on behalf of Rajasthan for the hearing. "Notice was issued to the state of Rajasthan and the standing counsel but despite service, no one has entered appearance.

In any case, no one is present today," the bench noted in its order. "In view of the pollution in Delhi, we direct that in case the state of Rajasthan does not appear and file a counter affidavit within three weeks, all buses originating from or terminating at Bikaner House near India Gate, New Delhi are restrained from operating with effect from April 1, 2018," the bench said in its order.

The apex court was hearing an application for restraining Rajasthan from running passenger buses from the Bikaner House here. The bench, which fixed the case for hearing on March 26, directed that copy of its order be sent to standing counsel for the state for compliance. The court is dealing a PIL filed in 1985 by environmentalist M C Mehta who had raised the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-national capital region (NCR).

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